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 .

An Emotional Moment: A Milestone in the Amazon 5000 Expedition

 

Mickey speaking at BASE Camp

As Mickey progresses on his Amazon 5000 journey he wishes to highlight and remind everyone of the reason he has taken on this incredibly challenging and extreme 5,000 mile expedition. It is the small faces he met in the hospital, at Ronald McDonald House, at BASE Camp who are in the fight for their lives. It is the smiles of friends and family that are in the midst of battling this horrendous disease. It is for his supporters and fans back home but most of all it is to make a difference in the war against cancer.

It is Mickey's mission to inspire and encourage these brave warriors to continue their fight strong. Mickey's motto is to Never Give Up and he embodies this as he faces extreme challenges and obstacles along his 5,000 mile endeavour and forges through despite all circumstances. 

Facing cancer himself over a year ago, Mickey knows first hand the devastating moment of a diagnosis, the fear that is followed by flood of emotions and hopelessness. He understand the need to give loved ones something to lean on, something they can be inspired by for the long battle ahead of them. 

 
When the tough days of treatment come, he hopes by sharing his Amazon 5000 journey story and setting an example of courage and willpower he can be an inspiration for cancer warriors everywhere to continue to fight and overcome the worst situations despite obstacles in their way. 

Mickey honored loved ones currently in their battle by placing a Dedication Scroll in a Time Capsule  where names of cancer fighters and heroes lined the page. This scroll was placed in a handmade capsule designed by co-founder, Noga Grosman and Rachel Perez and brought to Mickey by a team member to bring with him on his legendary Leg 5 of the Amazon 5000 Expedition.

Hand Designed Time Capsule

 The Honor Scroll lists the names shared with us by loving families and friends, and reads:

"Stay strong in your fight friends, Never Give Up. Together we can make the Impossible, Possible!"

- Mickey Grosman

Mickey launched his first Dedication Ceremony in late June in the never explored jungle of the Sumaco region in Ecuador where he opened a trail for future cancer research. At 12,000 feet elevation in the dense cloud forest of the Eastern Andes, fighting the harsh elements and cutting through the dense vegetation by machete Mickey found his desired location where he would place the Amazon 5000 Time capsule. It was a very emotional moment for Mickey, knowing from experience how tough the cancer journey is and thinking of all of those who are currently in the battle, their families and supporting friends, of which he came all this way to inspire.


"The high elevation mountains have basically blocked us", wrote Mickey in a Satellite transmission he sent just couple of weeks ago: "The deep gorges surrounded us, rapid rivers beneath us, winds and downpours above us, and the life threatening situation has become obvious! All of us feel that this Cloud-forest jungle wants to kills us and keep us here. Everything is holding us back and trying to keep us from moving forward. I feel like this place wants to keep me here forever! But Mickey and his expedition team has moved forward, leaving a trail for hope!

Mickey is the first person ever to see this view of the Sumaco Volcano in Ecuador from its North-West angle

Opening a trail for research, it is Mickey's hope researchers will follow his footprint and a cure is found in these unexplored locations. Being that 70% of vegetation with anti-cancer properties are found in the rainforest, the cure may very well lie here in the unexplored jungles of the Amazon region. 

Mickey carved a tree to mark the spot the dedication scroll was placed. Years to come when a cure is found another expedition will be launched to visit the same location where Mickey made his imprint and the timecapsule then retrieved.Having the names of real people, who are fighting and surviving cancer as we write these words being kept in this time capsule and is truly meaningful and symbolic of the war that is waged and will hopefully in the near future be finally put to an end.

                                                  The Dedication Scroll Ceremony

Through courage, inspiration and determination Mickey hopes to lead the fight against cancer by example and make his imprint on the road to finding a cure.

And for those who lost their battle we have not forgotten. A special Memorial scroll was created and added to the time capsule to commemorate the brave warriors who moved on in their journey.

Visit here to learn more about the Dedication Scroll Program: 

http://www.stayclassy.org/events/amazon-5000-dedication-scroll/e16778

YOUR Voice Makes a Difference!

Greetings from the Amazon and Happy Summer!

     

As the temperature is rising, so is our excitement. Thanks to your generous support, our program has developed significantly to a blooming campaign that has been nominated for a StayClassy Award for Best New Charity.

Mickey is now over a month into the inspiring Amazon 5000 Expedition and is trekking through Leg 5. This leg is a monumental moment in the year long adventure, as Mickey is attempting to make history by forging a route where Francisco De Orellana's famous 1541 El-Dorado voyage was forced to turn back due to the impassable terrain and harsh conditions.

Mickey has sent word to us back home about his experiences so far on Leg 5 across the Eastern Andes, he speaks of terrible conditions: nonstop rain, 40 mph freezing cold wind gusts at 12,000 feet altitude, huge canyons, deep gorges, dense jungle, unnegotiable terrainand no open sky for satellite signal. He writes "we only did 1 mile in 9 hours today, conditions are rough and all the indigenous want to quit". Despite the obstacles, Mickey and his team endure and forge on as they learn first hand what the legend of this historic route is all about.

As Mickey is making big strides on his journey we are looking to make big strides at home, uniting our large community behind the flag Mickey has raised. We wish to remind everyone of Mickey's mission and his drive behind the Amazon 5000 Expedition. To do so and make a big impact at home we cannot think of better ambassador to the 'Amazon 5000 - for the Cure' program, than YOU! 

We want to turn our voice into a mighty roar, uniting our cry for a call to take action in finding a cure for cancer. We can make a big impact at home with the Amazon 5000 - for the Cure program, but we need YOU, to become our ambassador and spread the word to your community!

Help us spread Mickey's message to unite against cancer by sharing the Amazon 5000 program with your network of friends. Here is how YOU can help:

Create Your Own Fundraising Page  

Step 1: Visit: http://www.stayclassy.org/events/amazon-5000-for-cure/e8764

Step 2: Simply click the "Create Your Own Fundraising Page" on the right hand side

**We will guide you through the creation of your page and can assist you by phone,  

skype and/or email. If needed, we can even create your page for you!  

For help email Rachel Perez, Campaign Manager at rperez@amazon5000.com.

Step 3: Personalize your page with your own text or by adding your own "Call to Action" video.

Tell them what ignited your fire and brought you to support the Amazon 5000 - for the Cure cause.

 Get The Word Out!

Post your StayClassy Page on your social networks pages, in the signature of your emails and/or via text to your friends and do it often! Add to your posting and email Mickey's video so your friends can get a first hand glimpse of what the excitement is about. 

Make a flyer post it at your gym and places you frequent. Call your friends and urge them to join you. People will answer your call if you make your voice heard. 

Sample Text: 
Anacondas, Jaguars and the Amazon River, OH MY! Cancer survivor Mickey Grosman is trekking 5,000 miles across the Amazon Jungle to raise awareness for a great cause. Visit my page  to read all about it and check it out here ! 

Make your voice heard in the fight to cure cancer! Get some good karma this week and make a donation today here .  

These are just a few ways to gain your campaign momentum, look out for more updates and tips to help get your fundraising campaign soaring. In the meantime, don't forget to track Mickey and watch him make the impassable, passable on our facebook page: www.facebook.com/Amazon5000

For more helpful tips (or a great cheerleader) feel free to email Rachel Perez, Campaign Manager at rperez@amazon5000.com. 

Happy FUNdraising,

Amazon 5000 Team

Press Release: July 11, 2012

Orlando Cancer Survivor Forges Through the Impenetrable To Open a Trail for Cancer Research on the Amazon 5000 Expedition

 

PRESS RELEASE
Orlando, Florida
July 11, 2012

ORLANDO, Florida– The Amazon 5000 - For the Cure foundation, www.amazon5000.com, announced today that special forces veteran and cancer survivor, Mickey Grosman, is making history on the Amazon 5000 Expedition. He has already covered hundreds of miles on his mission to  reignite the fight against cancer and to inspire children currently battling cancer.   

Expedition Team 

Mickey Grosman is currently on Leg 5 out of 12 on his year long, 5,000 mile expedition across the South American continent. This leg is monumental as Mickey will be making history by forging a route where Francisco De Orellana’s famous 1541 El-Dorado voyage was forced to turn back due to the impassable terrain and harsh conditions.

Mickey is leading a courageous team of 6 through the virtually impenetrable terrain of the Eastern Andes through the Sumaco National Park in Ecuador, creating a path through the unexplored region never crossed by man before. This area is notorious for its unrelenting rain, earthquakes and extreme terrain.

By creating this path Mickey will be opening a opportunity for future researchers to study the plant life of this region. 70% of the plants with anti-cancer properties are native to tropical rainforests just like the Sumaco region. It is Mickey’s hope researchers will find in this never before seen vegetation, a cure to cancer.

Mickey crosses river rapids with
Dedication Scroll in hand.

After opening this trail Mickey is descending the brutal Eastern Andes to the tropical rainforest and will continue on the Amazon 5000 expedition, making his way along the Mighty Amazon River and  through the dense jungles of Ecuador, Peru, Columbia and Brazil.

 Along the way he is commemorating those who lost their battle with cancer and honoring current cancer warriors in a dedication ceremony, where he will post their names in a time capsule in the jungle that will not be opened until a cure for cancer is found. 

Through state of the art technology sponsored by Satellite Phone Store, Mickey is able to do live broadcasts 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 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.

To interview Mickey live from the jungle please contact Rachel Perez, Campaign Manager at rperez@amazon5000.com.

Amazon 5000 Expedition Blog: 7-9-12 - 7-10-12

7-9-2012:   Constant rain out poured all night and the river we camped next to rose almost 20 ft.  If it would have risen up another 10 ft we would have all been washed away along with our gear.  We trekked a little down river until we came to a vast forest of balsa trees.  I decided this would be a good location for us to construct our raft to help us get through this vast swampy terrain.  

Balsa wood is some of the lightest wood on the planet. It is also the faster growing tree in the jungle. In Spanish, balsa literally means raft.  We started by chopping down six of the biggest balsa trees we could find.  This took some time; we started this whole process at about 09:00.  After we cut down all the trees we needed we sectioned off its branches so we would have just the straightest part of the trunks.  We then remove the bark from the trunks; this makes the balsa logs more than 30% lighter. This in turn adds to their buoyancy.  

While we were stripping the bark, I found a huge snail!  It was much larger than my hand!  The indigenous explained to me how this is really good for eating and how great of a find it is.  The snail has a big green shell and large orange slimy body.  It was very interesting and a neat discovery here in the jungle.  

After we stripped all of the logs of their bark, we used the bark as a slide to help us get the logs to the river. We flattened out the bark and rolled the logs over it, one by one.  The inside of the bark is very slippery and made the job much easier.  Once we had all the logs in the river, we floated them all together and organized them to begin our building process.  We started by cutting out harder tree that grows near by the shoreline, sharpening it onto wood nails and pegging 4 wood nails in a crisscross method on each balsa log over a center pole for stability.  Repeating these nails installation on both ends of the raft, we wrapped it around in several layers using our climbing rope for additional stability. We do not know what kind of rapids or obstacles may turn up down the river. We lashed everything together very tightly as it must be as strong as possible since it must carry six people and our gear, weighing over 1000 pounds!  

With the raft now completed we loaded all the backpacks and did a quick float test. It seemed stable, however I decided we should add another two balsa logs on the outside for stability. At this time it was 15:00, it took us a total of six hours to build this monster raft! Everyone hopped in the raft and we were off down the river. The raft was very stable and held up nicely as we cruised through calm water for the first few minutes steering her with a bamboo poles we all cut in advance. Very soon we came up to our first rapid. We cruised through it quickly as I yelled directions at the guys while they navigated the raft with much reliability. 

Born and raised in the tropics of the Amazon by river banks my indigenous support team was now in their comfort zone. Finally! They know the river and they love it! I was very impressed with the raft and knew it was not going to have any problems. 

We rode the balsa raft down the river for another few miles before I decided it was time to stop and camp for the night.  We pulled over to the side of the river and unloaded.  We quickly set up our camp and ate a nice dinner.  It is about 19:00 now and we are all getting ready for bed.

  
7-10-2012:  Wake up, wake up! Move faster, rapido! Shouting orders quickly I tried to save the day. Wow! We got a nice surprise this morning at exactly 05:00!  But it all started with us setting up camp last evening and parking our shiny new balsa raft at the river bank using two braided strands of 550 paracord to anchor it down to a tree base. The raft has been anchored strong! I recall seeing my indigenous support team as they began prepare camp less than 5 ft away from the river and only at elevation of 3 ft above it.  I knew this was a bad idea and was breaking my number one rule right there, right then.  However the indigenous swore up and down that this was the dry season and since it did not rain much during the day we did not have to worry about the river flooding. Wishing to put a trust in them as they are the indigenous River people of the Amazon region I went against my better judgment and we set up the camp in their original position. 

 
It started pouring buckets of rain at 20:00 last night!  I woke up again at midnight to checked the river to make sure it was not rising since it was still raining very hard, it had risen maybe six inches.  This was completely normal and nothing alarming.  I talked with the indigenous and they said it was okay and that we were high enough above the water and did not need to pack and prepare to move.  I knew this was a bad idea but for some reason I made the mistake of listening to them and went back to sleep.  I woke up again at 03:00 to check the river, it was still raining fairly hard, but less than it was before. It was pitch dark by the river and the river was humming. Aimed with my Princeton tech head lamp I glazed into the water. It has now risen a foot.  I knew in my head, and I cannot believe I did not listen to my guts, that we needed to prepare to move.  I just had the feeling that things will go wrong from this point.  I talked to Delfin again, he said he could not sleep and was going to stay up and keep watch.  I thought okay, he’s going to watch, he says "the river act normal and all is okay", so I went back to sleep.  

I still had the bad feeling, my guts tried telling me something…. and I ignored it like an “Ahabal” (idiot). I fell asleep shortly and the next thing I knew was waking up by the screams of Augusto!  He was yelling frantically. I didn’t have much time to think as as soon as my eyes opened a wave of water rushed over my tent rapidly.  I was immediately wide awake and sprung into action grabbing all the electronics stored nightly in my tent and hanging them in the trees.  It was still pouring rain at this time so everything around was soaked.  There was no high ground to be seen so we had no other choice but to pack everything into anything and get on the balsa raft to escape with our lives!  

This thought process took place over a 60 second period.  During this time I realized Matt Saxman was nowhere to be seen, I thought what the heck!? Where could he be at a time like this!? Was he swept into the water? I yelled his name and heard a strange mumble coming from inside his bevy tent which was submerged in about six inches of water.  I was absolutely shocked!  I could not believe it!  Everyone was up and frantically trying to save all the gear and especially our lives and this guy was sound asleep, in the water, probably feeling like rocking in his mommy’s womb.  I screamed at him to get up quickly and moving and shouted his way that we were in a flash flood. 

Disconnected from reality Matt slowly got out of his tent and then it hit him. He finally realized what was going on and he hopped into action, but not too fast. It was obvious he is confuse and not made out of first responders’ material.  He grabbed some electronics hung them in a tree and stood there. I urged him to quickly get into filming. "Capture the moment!" I yelled. The other camera men were collecting our gear and hanging it up on the trees and salvaging everything possible. Matt was the only one who did not initiate any rescue. “Aim the video cam and shoot” I yelled. It was not time for babysitting this grownup. “I was sure you all were playing a prank on me” Matt said later. “That’s why I acted slow…” Endless excuses this guy has. I am not impressed any more with his excuses and white lies. It might work at the classroom facing his teacher, but not here, not in an emergency situation. When it’s time for action no excuse can excuse you!    
 
I continued to grab anything and everything I could find, all of my thousands of dollars of gear were floating by me headed off down the river!  The other guys were scattered around grabbing everything as well!  Delfin went to try and get the raft.  We needed to move it closer to us since the river was so high.  He was not able to move it since we tied it down so well with braided strands of 550 paracord. We had to walk in raging current up to our necks, but were still too far away from the raft, we had no other option but to swim for it.  We all had our adrenaline rush which helped at that point.  We all loaded up our gear and ourselves on the raft and just as we were up it started to sink due to the strong current and our anchor line pulling it down.  We had to cut the line quickly or lose the raft. Bartelo, one of my guys was still in the water a little away from the raft, the second we cut the line the raft popped up wildly from its submersion and began breaking the trees holding it back from rolling down the raging river.  These trees gave Bartelo the extra seconds he needed to get on the raft or he would have been stranded!  Once on the raft the situation got even more dangerous!  

We were now in fast moving rapid water in pitch black darkness with giant trees raging down the river alongside with us threatening to crash into our raft.  This was no place to be on a jungle built balsa raft! The rapids, fueled by rains and by steep descents of the Andes, were intense, and the raft propelled over tumbled tree trunks and around giant rocks with grinding roar aiming to drown us as we all hollered to hold on. We navigated around river bank trees, giant Bamboo logs, and the massive waves of the rolling river. It was not the right time for whitewater rafting but we were trapped stranded on a makeshift balsa raft and needed to survive this ordeal.  The trees along the river bank were very dangerous!  Each one we went through tried to sweep us off the raft like dust on a door mat.  The river waves reached two feet high and were rolling over us and the gear.  We even had to navigate around other broken boats.  We ran into and rolled over several busted up dugout canoes.  I was amazed and very impressed to see that the balsa raft could stand up to these extreme and unforgiving conditions!  

We continued down the rushing river at dawn, and I noticed all of the insects were taking refuge with us as well.  We were all covered in ants, caterpillars, beetles, crickets, and most of all SPIDERS!  We were all covered in spiders of all kinds and sizes!  They were crawling on our faces, in our clothes, everywhere!  Luckily no one was bitten.  We continued downstream until we reached the Payamino Bridge about 5 hours later.  It continued to rain this whole time and kept the river flowing amazingly fast!  We were cruising at about 6 mph most of the day.  Once we reached the bridge we finally spotted a place we could park the raft without running it into a bunch of trees or rocks.  We paddled it into a small cove and tied it off on a tree.  We began to unload and did a gear inventory to see what we had lost.  I was amazed to find out we did not lose anything other than 2 machetes, Matt's boots, and worst of all one of my favorite hats.  It continued to rain for the rest of the day, it is 22:00 now and it is still raining, the river has risen even higher and is moving even faster.  However today I listened to my guts and made sure we camped high enough above the water to avoid a dilemma like today!

Amazon 5000 Expedition Blog: 7-8-2012

 
7-8-2012:  It has been 18 days since we began to cross the Eastern Andes!  This has been some of the most brutal terrain I have ever experienced in my life, and trust me, I have done some very extreme things in my life but this takes the cake!  We have suffered through constant wetness, cold, injury, and sickness. We brought only enough food rations for a few days, as much as we could fit on our back, thinking we would live off the land, like the Indians, whose jungle is their home. Cutting, chopping, pulling and pushing through the cloud forest jungle from morning to night, we couldn’t see any sign, or footprint that can leads us to a food source. No wildlife, no game. No birds! So quite. Too quiet! No one wants to live here! Time and foot of man had not touched those mountains, seems as wildlife had not either. Gorges and summits all forested from bottoms to tops. We observed species and plants of all kind of shape and color that have never seen before to mankind. No risk on eating unknown planets is taken here. Conserving our law supply of food was hard on the people. The expedition had run out of food. We were forced to wander hungry through the jungle. Our hunting and fishing skills are useless here. If there are some wildlife here they all were hiding out from the same harsh elements that slapped our faces and bodies nonstop. My people couldn’t think of anything other than food and became irritable and paranoid. We all started losing weight rapidly and looked more like dead men than cheerful expedition as it was up to this point. We were now more susceptible to disease and illnesses of all kinds. Chills swept through our bodies as our last source of heat consumed by our last fire.

 
With the wet soaking environment we lived all these weeks, we exercised all survival skills and means available to us in order to build fire. No primitive fire can be built here. A year ago while running my reckoning for few days at the gateway to this mountains I left a small can of gasoline hanging on a tree, thinking I will have to carry a small Honda generator to charge my electronics. Now that I found it at the same place I left it, we carried it and used a small portion of this “gold liquid” to ignite fire each evening. But nothing could hold a fire there, not to cook ramen noodles soup nor to provide warmth in this wet coldness. Using my last resource idea I’ve asked all my team to donate their socks to the mission. One of the morning routines I insisted on, has been educating my team to cover their feet generously with Vaseline before wearing their boots. That practice proved to eliminate all foot problems due to long daily walks. These socks soaked daily with Vaseline were now very much valuable! Adding more Vaseline into the socks and igniting one sock a day, made our poor dinners possible! Locating the socks in a cavity between three horizontal tree logs we protected the fire from the wind and managed to boil water for all our needs. The Vaseline in the sox became the source of energy and burnt slowly and for long period. But that gasoline can we had will not last forever. We must move faster.    

  
I tried to find an “easier” route to cross this “green hell” as described by many jungle explorers before me. I fully identified myself now with the 1541 historic event over these mountains and of which footprints I was now following; the legendary Francisco de Orellana El-Dorado journey. My party is very small in comparison but all other “symptoms” exist here too. At each time we decided a path it ended up over precipices or at a deep gorge and forced us to turn around. My GPS unit screamed “EAST” and that is where I was going. But my indigenous team has lost trust in my satellite beacon as it didn’t show them HOW to cross these obstacles. Do I see devastation on the face of my people? The devices also couldn’t penetrate the thick canopy and signal out our location to civilization. Learning from the historic drama of this region I could smell the fear crawling their necks. I also had my own doubts. 

I could see the Sumaco volcano summit in a blink of a sun light that penetrated the clouds. That’s the direction I need to head now, South-east, as my team member, Norma, got very sick and she needed to be evacuated to a hospital.  She severely suffered from fever and other symptoms and needed a medical treatment.  She will not be able to continue and will probably not join us again. That is making us now short one person.  The rest of the team is now paying the price for losing one person; we have divided up her gear and are all now carrying even heavier backpacks. every pound we have to add makes it that much harder for us to move especially in this extreme terrain. I believe we are all now exceeding 50lb packs.  This is taking a toll on my people as well and adding to the suffering. We wrap up our injured and painful ankles tighter and we keep going. We are now slowly making our way down to the Orient; it is a much lower elevation to the east of Sumaco National Park. However don’t be fooled, we still have to cross hundreds of mountains of 700m each.  We still have to cross rivers, waterfalls and other dangerous obstacles.

For almost 3 weeks we haven’t seen the sun, we have been under clouds, with rain and even when we got a break from the rain, the canopy is so thick that the sun cannot penetrate.  The team and I are so happy to finally reach San Jose De Payamino!  It is a small indigenous town, where we were able to get some rice, plantains, and bananas.  We continued through the small town and made it to the Payamino River where we were able to finally catch some fish and get some good food in our bellies after barely eating for these last 3 weeks.  Here the canopy is not as thick and we have been able to finally get some sun and use our satellite communication devices.  It felt amazing to have each beam of the sun rays hit our skin, and to finally be able to soak in its warmth and nutrients.  That along with a full belly was absolutely priceless!  

We have arrived to a location that is too swampy for us to cross on foot. Thousands of acres of deep and muddy wetland accumulate down at the Oriente Rainforest by the nonstop water rushing down the Eastern Andes.  The mud is so deep, up past our waist, and the vegetation is so thick that there is no way for us to trek.  After defeating the harsh conditions of the Cloud forest we are too weak to take on this obstacle.  The likelihood of someone to get seriously injured or another team member became ill is greater than ever.  Building a raft seems to be the best solution to continue east on the river until we bypass this area into much drier land.  

Tomorrow we will begin the raft construction; we must find either a source of bamboo or several large balsa trees that can be built into a raft to carry six people along with all of our gear.  So far we have crossed approx 750 miles from the Pacific Ocean to our current location.  We have for the most part crossed Ecuador. all we have left is another 100 miles until we reach the border of Ecuador and Peru.  We will then begin to cross the dense Peruvian Jungle and will be officially in Amazonia - the Amazon Jungle.