NationStates Jolt Archive

Why not?
It's only 3375 miles (5430 km).
http://static.amazonswim.com/media/articles/330_medium.jpg
http://www.amazonswim.com/main.php

http://www.nzherald.co.nz/feature/story.cfm?c_id=500835&objectid=10423347

http://secondlife.reuters.com/stories/2007/02/04/80a7cb54e8ed3404e4586bc779fcc21516cf0c7e/

He was prepared for just about any threat the Amazon could throw at him, including its piranhas, snakes, electric eels, crocodiles and even the feared toothpick fish that swims into body orifices, erects a spine and feeds on blood and tissue.

...

Ahead of Strel still lies Iquitos, notorious for waters infested by ferocious, flesh-eating piranha.

His team has prepared buckets of animal blood, loaded onto support boats to distract the fish and reptiles.

Near the end of his journey he will face a tidal bore, or wave, about 4m high, known as the Pororoca.

fuck.
just......fuck.

one word 'candiru'

one word 'candiru'

It said that he's prepared for that.

Bloody hell, that's insane. :eek:

There's also all those mini parasites he's got to worry about. They can infest pretty much every part of your body.

Not sure if you heard about this story:

A girl I heard about was in the Amazon for a two week holiday. She swam in the river for a little while. A few days later she's got this headache. It won't stop. Just a constant throbbing. When she's going home, where the headache is, there's a big lump, like a bruise. First thing she does when she gets home is see's her GP. What he does it put a plaster over the bruise, and she's told not to take it off until 12:00 the next day.

She comes back to see him at 12:00. He removes the plaster and then a yellow worm-like parasite pretty much bursts out from the it's little breathing hole where the bruise is. It was suffocating. He yanks it out and all is well. Apparently it was drinking water and absorbing minerals that were supposed to be getting to her brain, hence the headaches.