Salvador Alvarenga, a fisherman who spent 438 days adrift

Salvador Alvarenga is a real shipwrecked man.His story is as prodigious as it is incredible, according to many products of a very fertile imagination.He knows what happened to this Salvadoran fisherman in 2012.

Salvador Alvarenga, a fisherman who spent 438 days adrift

Born in El Salvador, in Ahuachapan, in 1975, and in 2000 he launched into the migratory adventure: he moved to Mexico, specifically to Chiapas, to live as a fisherman.Alli would work in a small fishing village, on the beach of Costa Azul near the town of Pijijiapan, on the Chiapas coast, facing the Pacific.

A day like any other, on December 21, 2012 , left in his small boat of fiberglass of 7 meters in length accompanied by Ezequiel Cordoba , another young fisherman.Despite some storm warnings, they decided to go to the sea equally, because it was not the First storm with which he, Salvador Alvarenga, ran into.He was very skilled in fishing and in the na vegacion, but the storm reached them, and huge waves crashed into the boat while hurricane winds shook them; a few hours after leaving, and having damaged the radio, engine and GPS thanks to the storm, the boat drifted, diverting its route.

Salvador Alvarenga, a fisherman who spent 438 days adrift

As a good sailor, Salvador Alvarenga had He had taken more provisions than he needed, since on more than one occasion he had to stay on the high seas more than planned.Once the provisions were finished, and already convinced that a rescue would not be possible in the short term, he began fishing turtles, fish and traps for birds.

He could never make a fire, so the meat was always raw.They were very careful not to drink salt water, and so, at first they drank their own urine; But Salvador realized that he was very thirsty and, since it was not raining, he could not collect rainwater.He had an idea: to drink the blood of the turtles, and that he did, but the other young man, Ezekiel, refused to do so.

Four months passed, and Ezekiel's health was seriously compromised, because he refused to eat; He rebelled against that diet, even at the thought of his own death.I slowly stop eating raw meat, and if it didn't rain I didn't drink water.Until the fatal and inevitable outcome happened: that young fisherman died, and left alone Salvador Alvarenga on that marine immensity.

Nine more months passed, and he finally saw land; He once again laid a beach on January 30, 2014, at Ebon Atoll in the Marshall Islands, 12,500km from Chiapas.The American journalist Jonathan Franklin , a contributor to some newspapers such as The Boston Globe , The Guardian and The New York Times , decided to write their story and interview Salvador Alvarenga, who were present in the Marshall Islands when he was appeared and those who accompanied the fisherman during his hospitalization.The book is called Salvador: the incredible story of Salvador Alvarenga and his 438 days adrift , and in the story he tells adventure of his shipwreck, of his anguish, of his madness by being completely alone, of his despair.

Salvador Alvarenga, a fisherman who spent 438 days adrift

Recreational route of Salvador Alvarenga's boat, which sailed a distance of 12,500 km

However, and as if that were not enough, time after returning to El Salvador, to his hometown, his neighbors accused him of being a drug dealer and talk, and Ezequiel's relatives filed a lawsuit against him for cannibal, because of in no other way could he have survived so long.

In the face of all this, Salvador Alvarenga hired a lawyer, but then refused his services and hired an American law firm; The former lawyer contacted the relatives of the other young man and they have sued him for a million dollars .Before the accusations, Alvarenga decided to undergo any polygraph and psychological exams, and the results say there are no lies, that Salvador's version is true.

“Never think about cannibalism; by then he was right-handed in catching fish and turtles, and always We had a five-day supply.Hezequiel despaired, thought they wouldn't save us and didn't eat.In the end he was so weak that he couldn't even speak anymore."

Canibal or not, Salvador Alvarenga now he fears the sea and his health is not as good as before.If he ate human flesh or subsisted on turtles and fish, we will never know for sure; He survived an extreme adventure, that's right.He was at sea 438 days, on his little boat, alone.

Meet other shipwrecks, like these 5 of which you would like to know.And also these 4 cases of survival cannibalism.

Images: Gerard Van der Leun, Commons Wikimedia

Comments

Manage your fears | The RIA method

In the following article we want to talk to you about controlling your fears.Fear is something destructive that, although it exists to keep us alert to possible dangers, usually has not so beneficial consequences.Fear of speaking in public, on a first date to a job interview, and many other situations in which fear is our worst enemy because it usually blocks us. So the next time you have to control your fears, you should follow the researcher's advice of fear Mary Poffenroth and her RIA method that we will explain below. RIA method to manage your fears When we talk about controlling your fears we don't always refer to the sensation you can have when being on the edge of a cliff or facing a wild beast.The researcher Poffenroth explains in her investigation that fear presents itself basically in two ways; real and fictitious fear.The real fear comes from a real threat, a threat against your life, as we said before, a precipice, a wild beast threatening us, a thief who s...

4 things we only know that we adore on rainy days

Rainy days.Do you adore or hate them? Everything will undoubtedly depend on the country in which you live, and on that latitude where atmospheric conditions mark your rhythms and even your life. The North American countries see that fine, constant and daily rain, like that kind companion that draws their days and from which on occasion, why not, I would like to let go to enjoy intense sunny days where the light floods it everything, where nothing is left in the shadows, and where one can plan anything knowing that he will always have the good weather. If you live in those places of pleasant temperature where the rains only come occasionally for bring occasional disaster and flooding, you will also miss those kind rainfalls that are almost the leitmotiv of cities like London or Paris. Be like that is, if you like rain, you are likely to identify with these dimensions.Are you with us? The city suddenly acquires another reality And suddenly, all that scenario in which yo...

5 Signs that you are a pathological liar

We all lie, that's right, we do it to get away with ours, not to hurt others, to get what we want.However, when those lies go from small to changing lives, you're in a dangerous situation , perhaps dangerously close to being a mitomano. There are many authors who throughout history have reflected on the lie and numerous are the phrases about the lie that today are part of our cultural background.Without a doubt it is a very interesting concept and worth exploring, but first...Are you a pathological liar? Are you a pathological liar? Find out! 1.Lies are much more frequent You should know that when you start to lie about anything, you are no longer trying to protect someone's feelings, you are a liar pathological. When you get to the point where, regardless of the situation, you get an excuse to manipulate the truth, going as far as inventing complete stories to project a better image of you...It is a clear sign that maybe you should start worrying about your te...

Hypnagogic hallucinations: between wakefulness and sleep. Does it happen to you?

Sleeping, sounding, waking up...are activities that we carry out daily but that involve a much greater complexity than it seems at first glance.In Science Daily Online we have talked about sleep disorders and some phenomena that occur to many people while they sleep as Shaking or spasms before falling asleep.On this occasion we have approached another of these trances that can occur when we go to sleep, are the Hypnagogic hallucinations: between wakefulness and sleep.Does it happen to you? Hypnagogic hallucinations The hypnagogic hallucinations are those that occur little before the dream begins. They can be visual, auditory and/or tactile .The name was cradled by Alfred Maury (1817-1892), a French physician and academic who made deep studies on the dream in the 19th century, to talk about a situation that occurs at the time of the transition between wakefulness and sleep. The pa Labra hypnagogica/o comes from Greek and is composed of «hupnos» (dream) and «agogos» (induce...

5 great inventions made by women

It may seem that women have been for centuries away from the great ideas that make the world progress, but is not like that .In Science Daily Online we have already seen how women have actively collaborated in this development, and this time we bring you 5 great inventions made by women that we believe will surprise you. 5 great inventions made by women 1.The Monopoly The Monopoly, the board game par excellence, that has gathered environment at a table for several generations, he was devised by a woman: Lizzie Magie in 1903 .Lizzie patented it in 1904 with the name "The Landlord's Game".With the intention to teach the economist's thesis Henry George .A few years later, Charles Darrow made a version of Atlantic C ity, which I call Monopoly, to try to sell it to Parker Brothers, which I finally got. In the legal investigations for a litigation that the toy company kept with the creator of the Anti-Monopoly, it was discovered that really the ...

The longest vertebrates in the world!

We love history, we can't help it; and the science that walks alongside.This article introduces you to some nice animals, who live longer than anyone: the Galapagos turtles . An archipelago full of turtles In 1535 Fray Tomas de Berlanga headed from Panama-where he was bishop-to Peru with the mission, ordered by Carlos V , to act as an intermediary between Pizarro and his men, who had entered into conflict shortly after the conquest of the Inca Empire. However, bad weather and currents were diverting and took him to the accidental discovery of an archipelago, which the Galapagos baptized, for the amount of turtles they found living peacefully in it. Then, as used to happen in those times of conquest, the process of extinction of the and local species. One of pirates Before the end of the XVI century the Galapagos they became English pirate shelters that attacked Spanish ships, the first being Richard Hawkins, in 1593.Later, in the 19th century, it was ...

Cases of women who gave birth without knowing they were pregnant

Is it possible that a woman does not know she is pregnant until the moment she begins to feel the labor pains and gives birth? Although it is uncommon, if it can happen and it is that some women do not present the common symptoms of a pregnancy, also in cases of obesity and/or very young people, the tummy can really be noticed and confused with weight gain.Know your amazing stories . I didn't know I was pregnant 1.De holidays in the Alps The case of Karine is quite particular for the simple reason that the woman of 45 years had had two other children and knew exactly what it was like to be pregnant. While on vacation in the Alps with her family, she felt a strong stomachache .The woman went to the bathroom and just 15 minutes later gave birth to a little girl who was perfectly healthy. Karine couldn't believe she was pregnant without realizing it, as her period was always i Regulate , from time to time I spotted and also did not show any other sympto...

The bloody ivory hunt

Surely you have heard about the recent killing of elephants in Africa to take their fangs away.They have been authentic massacres the work of poachers, which we will deal with today in Science Daily Online . The bloody ivory hunt Poaching is illegally done, usually to endangered species or in areas where it simply cannot be their environmental and natural characteristics.In the case of ivory hunting, since 1989 there is an express prohibition of hunting African elephants to protect these splendid animals (the largest land mammals), which have been threatened to the point that some environmentalists they estimate that if drastic measures are not taken to stop the smuggling of ivory, the population of pachyderms will be history in a matter of a few years.In the 80s, the hunters killed more than half of the African elephants s . And what happens? Why is ivory so valuable, who buys it? As in the case of numerous species, such as pangolin, the main market is the Asian , especial...

Find out how the wolves got "resurrected" Yellowstone

The negative fame of the wolves has accompanied these beautiful animals since the beginning of time, but we know that in many parts of the world they cause serious damage with their attacks, sometimes very wild , but even so, the benefits they can offer to nature are sometimes simply incredible.A direct example of this is found in the Yellowstone National Park. We are sure that this story will surprise you. The wonderful trophic web of wolves in Yellowstone There were almost seven decades of absence.Almost 70 years in which, the presence of the wolf in Yellowstone was almost non-existent.Can you imagine what such a thing supposes in a natural scenario of great impact like the one that opens in the middle of the states of Idaho, Montana and Wyoming ? An excessive increase in the lower links of the trophic chain, that is, of all those herbivorous animals that over decades and decades left areas of the park incredibly depopulated with vegetation. The situation was already ...

Genie, a magical spirit that never left the lamp

Genie lived his first 13 years of life in a room, isolated from the world and sitting practically all day on a potty.His real name was Susan M.Wiley , and today he already has about 58 years, however, the world knew her as «Genie», because that was the name she used to call her one of the specialists who treated her. Genie It was like that little genius hidden in a magic lamp, a special being confined in his own brain and in his own loneliness, someone who could never really emerge from his darkness and that jail where his family introduced her, and then, society itself. Let's get to know your case. Genie, the fierce girl from California Genie was not raised in a forest or abandoned by her parents.This is a unique case of those that sometimes occur in our same cities, incomprehensible cases that, for whatever reasons, may be occurring in many of those houses that, from the outside, seem have a normal appearance.Genie's story happened in the late 50s in California...

Science Daily Online

Search This Blog