Castaway's Tom Hanks' real life Doppleganger

[Hellbent]

UPDATE: Part 1 of in depth details of Alveranga's harrowing ordeal: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2611745/There-no-flesh-left-I-doubt-meal-sharks-In-gripping-WORLD-EXCLUSIVE-interview-castaway-survived-14-months-adrift-Pacific-angrily-denies-turned-cannibal-dead-companion.html 'There was no flesh left on him. I doubt he even made a meal for the sharks': Castaway who survived 14 months adrift on the Pacific angrily denies he ate his dead companion

Part 2: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2612594/Macabre-games-seagull-soccer-save-sanity-moment-Devil-dared-slit-throat-Castaway-Jose-Alvarenga-exclusively-reveals-primeval-fight-soul-vast-ocean-14-months.html Macabre games of 'seagull soccer' with a dead frogfish to save his sanity and the moment the Devil dared him to slit his own throat: Pacific castaway reveals his hellish fight

http://news.nationalpost.com/2014/02/03/fishermans-stunning-survival-story-of-being-adrift-for-13-months-and-8000-miles-too-incredible-for-some-to-believe/

Fisherman’s stunning survival story of being adrift for 13 months and 8,000 miles too incredible for some to believe

Mr. Alvarenga said he left southern Mexico in December 2012 with a 15-year-old named Ezekiel on a day trip to catch blacktip sharks.

Alvarenga washed ashore on the tiny atoll of Ebon in the Pacific Ocean last week before being taken to the capital, Majuro, on Monday
More than a year later, he washed up alone, 8,000 miles away on a Pacific atoll in ragged underpants and a bushy beard, after an ordeal that could be a record for survival at sea.



Some small scars were visible on Mr. Alvarenga. His fingers had apparently been pecked by seagulls, which he said he killed by hand before drinking their blood. His ankles were bloated and swollen, because he would trail his feet in the water for long periods to prevent the skin from cracking. last edited 02-03-2014 at 20:16

[Technician]

He looks well nourished. He probably ate the kick. I would have too.

[Zed]

At first he was mistaken for a Mexican, but he turned out to be from El Salvador. Despite this, apparently he's going to be taken back to Mexico before he finally goes back to his country.

[geo]

My friend worked for Taco Bell for 8 years. He learned, never mix up a Mexican with an El Salvadoran. They get pissed.

He does look well nourished. Perhaps he became the tiger to survive.

[CorSair]

Turtles seem to be quite nutritious stuff.

[Krispy]

*Doppelgänger

Also fake.

[dew]

Damn, 13 months on seagull blood?! That's hardcore, he must have wiped out entire colonies of them. He's like Vlad Tepes of seagull legends.

[Technician]

geo said:

My friend worked for Taco Bell for 8 years. He learned, never mix up a Mexican with an El Salvadoran. They get pissed.

Nobody wants to be Mexican.

[Zed]

geo said:

My friend worked for Taco Bell for 8 years. He learned, never mix up a Mexican with an El Salvadoran. They get pissed.

Mmmhh, is this real? At least here I haven't see that.

Technician said:

Nobody wants to be Mexican.

Why aren't there any Mexicans in hell?
They jumped the border.

Krispy said:

Also fake.

Somehow I'm not surprised.

[Clonehunter]

And of course, when you get home, get in front of the cameras, let the ad-boy throw a coke in your hand, and smile. Cola shares are up. Next they'll say he survived solely on a Coca-Cola crate that also washed up on shore.

[geo]

dew said:

Damn, 13 months on seagull blood?! That's hardcore, he must have wiped out entire colonies of them. He's like Vlad Tepes of seagull legends.

Ozzy drank dove blood.

[Waffenak]

geo said:

Ozzy drank dove blood.

Yes and decapitated bat with his teeth
The survivor drank turle blood not seagull blood

[geo]

Waffenak said:

Yes and decapitated bat with his teeth
The survivor drank turle blood not seagull blood

Shredder always talked about turtle soup. On a flip side, my gf and I watched some turtle sanctuary TV show this weekend. The castaway would clean that place out.

[Waffenak]

geo said:

Shredder always talked about turtle soup. On a flip side, my gf and I watched some turtle sanctuary TV show this weekend. The castaway would clean that place out.

shredder? turtle soup?

[geo]

Waffenak said:

shredder? turtle soup?

[Waffenak]

geo said:

OK now it makes sense :D

[Hellbent]

Castaway update: http://www.cnn.com/2014/02/07/world/asia/marshall-islands-castaway/

Man's condition deteriorates lending credence to his story.

"House, who is not Alvarenga's treating physician, said the castaway had complained to him of kidney pain since his arrival at the hospital.

The 78-year-old doctor, who speaks Spanish, said he suspects that Alvarenga is suffering from scurvy as a result of his poor diet and that edemas are causing the swelling and pain in his legs.

Alvarenga has said that he survived during his months at sea by eating raw fish and turtles. He says he relied on rainwater and urine for fluids.
When the doctor spoke with the castaway, he noticed that his fingers were stiff and he moved his hands slowly. Alvarenga complained of pain in his joints, knees and ankles, House said.

The first time House saw Alvarenga in the emergency room, his legs were hard and his skin was leathery. But when he returned to the hospital this week, his legs had changed to swollen, and his skin was tender and red, he said.
The doctor's assumption is that the castaway is recovering, but that it is a process that will take weeks, not days.

House also believes that Alvarenga is suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder.

[AndrewB]

That reads like an episode of House.

[myk]

I may have missed something but I don't get why Ecuador is marked on the map.

Technician said:
Nobody wants to be Mexican.

So they say, North Mexican.

[Hellbent]

Alvarenga told doctors that several large ships came near his small fishing boat but none tried to rescue him, even though sailors on at least one even waved at him.

"They passed close by, he asked them for help and they didn't want to provide it," said El Salvador's minister of public health, Maria Isabel Rodriguez. "There was one that almost destroyed his little boat because it came so close, but nobody helped him."

Although he was close to despair, "his desire to live was greater, he thought of his family and said that he wanted to live", Rodriguez said.

http://www.theguardian.com/world/2014/feb/13/castaway-jose-salvador-alvarenga-el-salvador-return-home

[Maes]

Waffenak said:

shredder? turtle soup?

[MajorRawne]

This is nothing. Once when I was 19, my parents went on holiday. I've never eaten so many Pot Noodles. The only ones who win in the end are the water companies, when you need to keep making ice cubes to rub gently on your ringpiece; the chili sauce in the Bombay Bad Boy flavour is no laughing matter on the way in or the way out.

[Hellbent]

UPDATE: More in depth details of Castaway's 13 month ordeal at sea:

Part 1: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2611745/There-no-flesh-left-I-doubt-meal-sharks-In-gripping-WORLD-EXCLUSIVE-interview-castaway-survived-14-months-adrift-Pacific-angrily-denies-turned-cannibal-dead-companion.html

Part 2: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2612594/Macabre-games-seagull-soccer-save-sanity-moment-Devil-dared-slit-throat-Castaway-Jose-Alvarenga-exclusively-reveals-primeval-fight-soul-vast-ocean-14-months.html

I was reminded of this remarkable story when I saw a news item yesterday of a Carolina man lost at sea for 66 days: http://www.dispatch.com/content/stories/national_world/2015/04/03/0403-66-days-man-rescued-at-sea.html