Slovenian Martin Strel approached the halfway point of his swim down the length of the Amazon river on Thursday, battling second-degree burns and working hard to avoid alligators and the dreaded bloodsucking toothpick fish.
The 52-year-old Strel, who holds three Guinness records, has already swum the length of Europe's Danube River, China's Yangtze and US' Mississippi. He has averaged about 90km a day since he began his 5,300km swim from the river's source in Peru on Feb. 1.
Swimming 12 hours a day, with only a short break for lunch, Strel has covered nearly 2,600km of the Amazon, which is the world's second longest river after the Nile.
Speaking by satellite phone during a break, Strel said his entire body hurt, but that his biggest adversary has been the glaring equatorial sun.
"We thought heavy rains would be an issue, but they are not; the sun is," he said.
Just days into his swim, Strel developed second-degree burns on his face and forehead and his team fears the burns will progress into third-degree burns, which could become infected easily.
His team has fashioned a mask out of a pillow case for protection, but Strel complains it is hot and makes it very hard to breathe, so he doesn't use it all the time.
By the end of each day, the area around Strel's mouth is brown with dirt that accumulates from waves breaking on his face. His lips are blistered, and scabs form on his nose and upper cheeks.
In addition, his eyes are very sore and swollen, probably from sun lotion getting in his goggles.
On the first day of his swim, Strel passed a nearly 2m-long alligator.
The team accompanying him also saw a school of candiru -- or toothpick fish -- swimming only a couple of meters from Strel. The bloodsucking fish swims into body orifices and erects spiny barbs to lodge itself inside and suck blood.
The constant rubbing of his wet suit on his skin has eaten away the flesh behind Strel's knees.
"It's not something that he will recover from; it will only get worse," said Yoram Yaeli, one of the expedition's coordinators. "He is suffering a lot."
Strel is being shadowed by a small wooden boat carrying local guides and other people who monitor his health. He also has been joined by pink river dolphins from the beginning.
Strel is likely to make slower progress while fighting with the wind and waves as the river gets wider toward the end of his swim, which he expects to finish on April 10.
"The last two weeks will be tough," Strel said. "But I'm confident I'm going to make it to the end, I just have to be careful and pace myself and save some energy."
Strel says as hard as it has been, exhaustion hasn't been a major concern.
"I take short naps while swimming, just two or three minutes at a time," he said. "My body will keep swimming, like a machine, the only problem is that sometimes I start going in the wrong direction."
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