Press Release: July 27, 2012

PRESS RELEASE July 27, 2012 For Immediate Release   Contact:                         Rachel Perez                 407-756-3732                                     rperez@amazon5000.com

Discovering the Undiscovered, Mysterious and Rare  On The Amazon 5000 Expedition Attention reporters: Mickey Grosman is available for interviews live from the jungle. High-resolution images from the expedition are also available.    ORLANDO, Florida- Amazon 5000,www.facebook.com/amazon5000, announced today that 64- year-old cancer survivor and special forces veteran, Mickey Grosman, has discovered plant life in the Amazon 5000 Expedition not recognized by the indigineous of the area, possibly unidentifiable to anyone!  In the midst of Mickey's Amazon 5000 expedition, a 5,000 mile journey across the South American continent, Mickey and his team of (6) indigenous, crossed land never crossed by any before. Traveling hundreds of miles, Mickey reached the Sumaco region, in the mountain range of the Eastern Andes in Ecuador. It is here, where Mickey documented plant life that was foreign to even the natives of the area. Mushrooms that looked and smelled like fruit, trees with mysterious intricate designs in the trunks and rare giant worms were just a few bio species documented by Mickey.          Mickey is now traveling east into Yasuni Park in Ecuador, just beginning leg 6 of his 12 leg, year long adventure. He will now be entering the territory of the Tagaeri Tribe. One of the last known uncontacted indigenous tribes in the world.   A meeting with the Tagaeri's could turn fatal, this tribe is known for their weapon of choice, long spears, and to be one of the most violent tribes. Despite the danger, Mickey forges on in his mission to reignite the fight against cancer and inspire cancer patients. Even the ominous giant paw print found in their path will not deter Mickey!  Setting a personal example, Mickey wishes to encourage cancer patients. Mickey says "I want the cancer warriors to know I am dedicating this journey to them. Keep battling strong, fight hard and never ever give up!". Through state of the art technology sponsored by Satellite Phone Store and Delorme, Mickey is able to share updates, blogs and picture live from the jungle and communicate with his fans at home and the little warriors battling cancer at Florida Hospital (www.floridahospitalforchildren.com) and with the children at BASE Camp Children's Cancer Foundation(www.basecamp.org) . They are partner organizations with Amazon 5000-for the Cure (www.facebook.com/Amazon5000) and the Amazon 5000-Kids Adventure Club (www.facebook.com/groups/TrekkerInspector). Journalists and fans can track Mickey on The Impossible, Possible Journey by following us on facebook:http://www.facebook.com/Amazon5000. About Amazon 5000:  Amazon 5000- For the Cure was founded to inspire those who are battling cancer, promote awareness to the fight against cancer and to provide endorsement  to research foundations and local organizations supporting Cancer patients through their journey. For more information visit:www.amazon5000.com.  # # #

The Impossible, Possible Journey!

A Dangerous Turning Point: Entering the Land of the Savages

 The Amazon 5000 Expedition Continues

The Amazon Jungle is full of wonder and mystery, but it is also full of danger. In the remote jungle there are no rules, there is no enforcement,  everyone lives by the law of their own land.

No one knows this more than the 4 indigenous tribesmen who have joined Mickey for the Amazon 5000 Expedition. These men have been born and raised in the jungles of the Amazon. This jungle is their home, their playground and yet there is still a part of
this jungle that brings much fear to these people.It is the land of the Tagaeri's.

In the heart of the Amazon Jungle, near the Ecuadorian/Peruvian border is the territory of the Tagaeri's. The Tagaeri Tribe is one of the last known uncontacted indigenous tribes in the world. They live a very primitive life and are hostile to those who cross their territory. They are most known for their deadly weapon, the spear. Known as one of the world's most violent tribes, they are in every essence of the word, savages.

The Tagaeri, once a part of the Huaorani tribe, live in voluntary isolation and have a distrust of the outside world due to the deforestation controversial oil companies are doing in the area that has been killing off their food source. Living off the land, it is essential that they protect it by any means possible. It is the most valuable thing to them, they can not survive if their food sources are contaminated, consumed, burned or torn down.

In his years as adventures leader in the Amazon basin region, running his Eco-Planet Adventure travel company, Mickey had a brush with fate. Mickey had a brief close encounter with the Tagaeri people. He knows first hand about this tribe.  Now Mickey and his team are about to enter this perilous land of the Tagaeri people to continue the lengthy Amazon trek of 5000 miles East. This most ominous path he is taking now will bring aboard a great chance he will encounter with the Tagaeri people - once again! The only difference is then he traveled only at the outskirts of this territory while now he is intending to cross straight through it, into the heart of the Tagaeri land.

Many stories about encounters with the Tagaeri's turned deadly. One of the most famous encounters was depicted in the film End of The Spears. A film about missionaries who came to visit the tribe and were speared to death as soon as they arrived to the community.

These events, encountering the Tagaeri, hit close to home for Amazon 5000 expedition team member, Bartolo. Bartolo has a horrifying story of his own.  

Read here as Mickey unfolds a very dark moment from Bartolo's past and what happened when his family encountered the Tagaeri's...  

   

Mickey:
Bartolo is a 38 year old Ecuadorian from Pavacachi, a member of the Kichwa tribe.  I have known this man for a little over 6 years, he has helped me on several occasions as a guide while I led my eco-adventure survival courses through his land located at the Amazon basin.  Bartolo is a helpful member of the Amazon 5000 expedition team, he is the strongest of the indigenous and has the most energy.  He served some time on duty in the Ecuadorian military where his physical strength and strong mental endurance probably came from.  

After a short break of few days  in my expedition, giving my team members time to gain energy back, I am now preparing to embark on Leg 6 to my expedition and ready to enter the dangerous land of the savage. For the past several days I have met  with local people of the region and interviewed them about the Tagaeri tribe and their known habits to the locals in that stretch of land I am about to cross . Bartolo, who lives with his family along the South edge of the Tagaeri territory became agitated as our final preparation took final shape. Its obvious he is nervous. He carries a heavy load of memories on his strong built shoulders and he decided he will share it with the expedition team so we will all know what’s ahead of us. At no point did Bartolo suggest he is pulling back and leaving the expedition.

We are sitting by the fire letting the last light of the day vanish into the canopies and the last sound of the Amazon birds turn to silence. 

 
Knowledge is power and I agree with Bartolo and support his decision to tell us all his story:

Bartolo:
The Tagaeries are a family clan that separated from the Huaorani tribe.  They are a very violent and vicious tribe that remains uncontacted to this day!  

 
About 8 years ago my father in-law, mother in-law, and my 6 year old son were traveling up the Curary river to bring their load of fruit from our land to a far friendly community along the river. they stopped on the way and camped out riverside in a small thatched roof shelter that they quickly fixed up before night fell that day.  Being all alone  and knowing the jungle rules they purposefully camped out on the South riverside that was opposite of the Tagaeri territory to avoid any confrontation with them.  The river was by local acquiescence the border between the Kichwa and the Tagaeri tribes. One accepts civilization, the other not! The Tagaeri are hostile to the Kichwa community for adapting civilization.

My family woke up around 05:30 (as costumed here) to prepare a fire for breakfast.  My father in-law was busy preparing the fire while the grandmother and grandson - my child - were down at the river washing. It was a peaceful morning not revealing what is about to happen. They have not noticed they were followed the evening before by eyes and shadows hiding behind the thick jungle trees on the North side of the river. Under cover of darkness of that night while my family slept sound a small group of the Tagaeri had swam across the river and prepared to attack my family. they waited until first light to make their move.  My father in-law was the first to be attacked... when I went later that day to seek for them I found my father in-law’s body with 13 spears pierced into his heart and soul.  The Tagaeries, as per their custom, marked their kill by leaving their spears in him.

And then, they hid again!
When grandma and my son came up back to camp she immediately noticed her husband’s lifeless body impaled by the Tagaeries’ spears.  she began to scream frantically!  Yelling for her grandson to go run as far as he can and hide!  My son could not move at first, she pushed him and his feet finally began to move and he ran into the jungle and hid.  From his hiding place he watched in horror as the Tagaeries impaled his grandmother with 6 spears.  Holding back his cry, understanding this is a very bad moment he looked at the scene with eyes wide open afraid they will come after him next.  

 
The Tagaeries did not wait too long after they killed my in-laws and began to strip them of all their belongings.  They then looked for my son, but couldn’t find him. luckily he had a very good hiding spot and remained undiscovered.  

When the Tagaeries finally left, my young boy stayed hidden without a move until nightfall. It  began to rain very hard and he knew he had to survive.  All alone and with no one to help him he went back to the shelter my in-laws built the night before and cuddled up against his grandparents bodies. Frightened and tired he fell asleep shortly after. The next day he traveled along the river until he saw some people riding a canoe. They picked him up and brought him back to my community where he fell to my arms and told me what had happened.  

It took him two days to finally get home and be comforted by his family for the horrors that befell his eyes. Once I heard my son’s story I went immediately down river to see for myself what my son’s eyes witnessed  and to retrieve the bodies.  When I arrived to the site my in-laws still had the spears in them and were laying lifelessly in the same places where the Tagaeries murdered them.  
My son is still very disturbed from that event.  He is now 14 years old and cries every time someone asks him about that horrific day.  

As Mickey and his team progress on the Amazon 5000 Expedition they will now be entering the land of the Tagaeri's. After hearing Bartolo's chilling story it is clear just how dangerous this expedition really is. Passing through this land has cast a dark shadow over the team and they move with much caution and now carry arms.  The anticipation has frightened one team member so much he has chosen to depart mid-route!

But the Tagaeri's are not the only dangers that lie in the jungle and along this expedition Leg. If Mickey chose to avoid the danger of running into the Tagaeri tribe his only other option would be to follow the Napo river down to Peru. As soon as he crossed the border into Peru territory he would be entering the Red zone of the drug underworld. Narcotics are trafficked along the watery highway here, the same watery highway pirates and bandits patrol.

Mickey was faced with a dilemma. Shall he proceed through the thick jungle and risk facing the ferocious warriors of the Tagaeri Tribe or dare sticking to the river and running into the drug infested world of the amazon jungle?

What would YOU have done if you were in Mickey's shoes?

 Bartolo's story as you have just read here, has been filmed on location of the Amazon 5000 Expedition for Mickey's documentary the Impossible, Possible Journey! So that you (the reader) will be able to watch Bartolo tell it all on film.

Alexander Hernandez Recaps His Miles in Mickey's Shoes

Alexander Hernandez

Amazon 5000 Documentary Casting Video Submission

 

Meet Alexander Hernandez, your not so typical banker and financial adviser. Take a good look at this clean cut business man, he just spent 2 weeks trekking along brutal terrain in South America with Amazon 5000 Expedition Team Leader, Mickey Grosman. 

From his first video submission to his extreme fundraising tactics it was clear, Alex was daring (watch Alex's fundraising challenge HERE ). He had a sense of adventure instilled in him. More than this, he had a real passion for the cause and supporting Mickey's mission to Reignite the Fight Against Cancer.

Read below in Alex's own words as he describes the two weeks he spent with Mickey on the Amazon 5000 Expedition. His experience of going from the urban jungle in the city into the wild in the jungle.

  MY AMAZON EXPEDITION BY ALEXANDER HERNANDEZ

Sometimes it is darkest before the dawn, or in this case cold and "wettest" just before the successful warm and dry.  You will not give up, even though you will be tested by pain.  You will not turn back, even though you get lost.  You will only persevere.  You will pass through with the blessing from the jungle and forest.  You will succeed not because of your strength’s but because sometimes people have no other choice.  Your desire and want can be enough.  I believe in my friends and I have no doubt about your strengths (I witnessed them first hand).   Think warm and happy thoughts, tighten the ankle a little bit more, cut the bush a little lower, and take an extra long step.

 It still feels a little like a movie.   You know the feeling when you come out of that suspenseful movie that kept you on the edge of  your seat for the full two hours.  Then you hit the real world and  you are relieved.  The movie screen world is intense  but your glad that you can breath a little more controlled now and your blood pressure seems to be dropping after you walk out of the theater.  Then you recount with your friends or family those Hollywood moments that took your breath away.  I can look back on my experience in the Amazon and it almost seems like a movie.  It almost feels like my real life experience was a 14 day long movie theater that played out the best and worst of a protagonists role.    It almost seems like those moments of danger and terror are a long gone movie moment that is now behind me.  Yet sometimes I relive them and remember that I was really there.  I remember that I was in real danger.  I remember that my health and life were constantly at risk.   Yet oddly enough I am grateful for it.

I traveled to the Amazon, June 6^th of 2012.  That day was actually turning out to be one of the more beautiful summer days in Orlando, Florida.  I awoke early in the morning, kissed my wife and kids goodbye and made the 3 hour drive to Miami to depart on the 3:00pm LAN Airline trip to Quito, Ecuador.  My initial destination before the dark.

The plane ride was uneventful.  Like most plane rides should be.  I arrived at the capital of Ecuador sometime after 8:00pm.  I was greeted at the airport by two of the local travel guides that delivered me quickly to my  hotel.  The hotel left much to be desired.  The entrance looked more like an abandoned house.  The toilet had no seat or cover.  The bed looked more like my shag carpet from the 70’s, but with a 2010 expiration date and way passed its life cycle.  I believe the last person to sleep in it was a mountain man because he had left part of his beard on the pillow.  I was told to be ready by 6:00am to be picked up for the start of my expedition.

I made myself as comfortable as possible on top of the sheets and went to bed.  The sleep was intermittent as a couple fought in the room next to me and the other three surrounding rooms coordinated a party.  I was sure I heard a gun shot in the middle of the night, but hoped that it was a table being tipped over at the party. 

That morning I decided to put a positive attitude forward no matter what the experience.  I put on my favorite Mickey Mouse socks.  These socks have a colorful design of our infamous Mickey Mouse swinging a golf club dressed to the “tee” in his golf apparel.  I strapped on my jungle boots that were purchased on sale, grabbed my 70 lb backpack of gear and headed thru the door.  I was picked up by the same two local travel guides.  The hailed a cab and drove me about 2 hours to the west and dropped me off at the expedition checkpoint.  My journey really begins.

A little sleepy from the exhaustive night and trip, I nevertheless embraced the moment.  I was going to do this for something greater then me.  I was going to do this for all the people that contributed money to this cause.  I was going to do it for all those people that are fighting cancer and all those friends and families that we have lost.  It was to show the world that some of those things that we perceive as impossible are in fact possible.  They just require a whole lot of guts, hard work, dedication, and sacrifice.  I wanted to do this so my children and my children’s children one day will see this and say:  we can do great things for others and ourselves.  We can do the impossible.  

I was dropped off that morning in a little town called Nono.  This was to be my starting point and also a checkpoint for the expedition.  At the checkpoint I was asked to unpack all of my belongings so they can view my gear and make sure that I am fully equipped.  “You never know when we can stop and check your items again“, said Mickey.  In an accent so thick I had to ask a native Indian to repeat what he was saying.  They placed everything in my bag, strapped it on me and started to move.  I of course paraded around showing everyone my Mickey Mouse socks to  kind of ease the tension.  A tension that immediately started when I told them that I worked at a bank.  I could interpret the look on their face.  It was the “oh no” look.  The “oh no”  here is another one.  “Oh  no” another pain in our midst and failure waiting to happen.  The look didn’t deter me, but my tension breaking Mickey Mouse socks later turn out to be my biggest burden. 

We started walking right after that down a dirt road.  We continued walking down the dirt road.  Past small make shift bridges and beautiful woods.  We kept walking past more woods and now small mountains.  We continued walking, now up bigger mountains and about 1 hour into it, I started to develop blisters.  Darn those socks.   

We didn’t seem to stop walking.  We walked past plants, wildlife, bushes, and even lunch.  I could not however walk past my blisters.  They were now with me for the length of my expedition.  That ice breaker and joke was backfiring big time.  I finally got the courage to mention to the expedition leader, Mickey that I had blisters.  Mickey had everyone stop.  He was going to inspect my feet.  That is when one of the many first tests of pain began.  The remedy consisted of four parts.  First checking to see if the blister was ruptured or needed rupturing. Second after the rupturing was the dousing of my blisters with iodine.  Not the cute small square swab you get at the hospital but the10% Iodine bottle that flows maliciously through your pours, cuts, scrapes, and irritated skin.  The third part would not typically be classified as a part of the treatment, but believe me it was needed.  The third part of the treatment was my jumping, kicking, screaming in an attempt to diffuse away the pain radiating up each leg.  Some call it a breather.  I like to call it an integral part of any healing process.  The final part just as painful and was a preview to later pains to come that night .  The wrapping.  Mickey then tightly wrapped each one of my feet in gray duct tape.    I was a soldier in the making.   

A soldier for a cause.   A soldier with gray feet that continually shot aching pains up my spine.  A warrior for a cause that very well may not be the warrior he thought he was and all of this only a couple of hours into what turned out to be a 20 mile walk on my first day of my 14 day commitment.  What had I gotten myself into.  Could I really do this for all those people that believed in me.  Could I really do this for a child with cancer.  I began to question myself.  I began to question everything.

Press Release: July 20, 2012

64-Year-Old Cancer Survivor Treks Across South America 
An Inspiring Journey Of Hope For Cancer Patients

Attention reporters: Mickey Grosman is available for interviews live from the jungle. High-resolution images from the expedition are also available.

  

ORLANDO, Florida- Amazon 5000, www.facebook.com/amazon5000, announced today that 64-year-old, special forces veteran and cancer survivor, Mickey Grosman, is trekking across the widest part of South America on the Amazon 5000 Expedition. 

While most people are preparing for retirement, Mickey Grosman is in the midst of a 5,000 mile, extreme expedition that has taken him from the shores of Pedernales, Ecuador, over the brutal terrain of the Andes mountain chain and will now lead him through the heart of the mighty Amazon jungle. Mickey will cross Ecuador, Peru, Columbia and Brazil by foot on a route never completed by anyone before. Through dangerous terrain and never explored regions, Mickey is on a daring, year long journey and he's doing it all for a cause that strikes close to home.

Mickey is trekking to reignite the fight against cancer and raise funds for cancer research. Mickey has conquered his own battle with Cancer and knows from first-hand experience what a devastating moment a diagnosis is. Diagnosed with Melanoma Cancer in 2010, he has walked the halls of the oncology unit of a hospital and seen the pain and suffering this terrible disease produces.  It is in the midst of his own battle, when he vowed to make a difference in the war against cancer.

"Seeing the young faces of children fighting this disease was heartbreaking. If I passed on, I had lived my years, but these children, they had barely lived and they were already in the fight for their life" said Mickey Grosman.

It was these young faces that became the drive for Mickey. Through his expedition he wanted to become a beacon of hope for these kids, to inspire them during their battle. As Mickey overcomes many obstacles on his year-long journey it is his hope to inspire these children to get through their toughest days and Never Give Up!

His mantra for the journey is The Impossible, Possible! And it is this concept he wants the cancer community to embrace. Together we can make the impossible, Possible!

 Through state of the art technology sponsored by Satellite Phone Store and Delorme, Mickey is able to share updates, blogs and picture live from the jungle and communicate with his fans at home and the little warriors battling cancer at Florida Hospital (www.floridahospitalforchildren.com) and with the children at BASE Camp Children's Cancer Foundation(www.basecamp.org) . They are partner organizations with Amazon 5000-for the Cure (www.facebook.com/Amazon5000) and the Amazon 5000-Kids Adventure Club (www.facebook.com/groups/TrekkerInspector).

Journalists and fans can track Mickey on The Impossible, Possible Journey by following us on facebook:http://www.facebook.com/Amazon5000.
 
About Amazon 5000
Amazon 5000- For the Cure was founded to inspire those who are battling cancer, promote awareness to the fight against cancer and to provide endorsement  to research foundations and local organizations supporting Cancer patients through their journey. For more information visit: www.amazon5000.com .