Lost in the Rainforest | Swept Away | 2
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A listener note: Against the Odds uses dramatizations that are based on true events. Some elements, including dialogue, may be invented, but everything is based on research. Yossi Ginzburg sticks his oar into the water and feels the river's current almost snatch it from his hands. He steadies himself on the wooden raft and glances up at the red rock cliffs looming along both sides of the river.

The cliffs are rising higher, the river channel is narrowing, and the rapids are speeding up. It's like the river is racing to get away from something, and it's taking Yossi and his friend Kevin Gale with it.

It's December 1st, 1981, in the remote jungles of Northern Bolivia. Yossi and Kevin are rafting down the Tuichi River. It's only been a few hours since they said goodbye to their traveling companions, Margus and Carl, after Carl decided to abandon the expedition and return to civilization on foot. But Yossi and Kevin chose to keep going on the river. Now, Yossi wonders if they've bitten off more than they can chew.

He looks at Kevin, whose eyes are fixed downstream. Remember, just keep the front of the raft pointed straight ahead. Don't fight the current. After this next set of rapids, we should come to that riverbank Carl told us about, and we can rest. Water sloshes onto the raft as they bounce over the rapids.

Up ahead, Yossi sees rocks and boulders jutting out of the whitewater. It looks like an obstacle course. Their raft is about eight feet wide, and Yossi doesn't see any possible way for them to avoid every hazard. Sure enough, a massive boulder appears dead ahead. The current is drawing them right to it. To the right!

The men dig their oars into the water, trying to steer clear of the boulder. But against these rapids, their oars might as well be toothpicks. Just before they hit the boulder, Yossi lies flat and grabs the ropes that hold the logs of the raft together. He closes his eyes. He feels water rush up, submerging his legs, then his torso.

He hangs onto the ropes for dear life. He opens his eyes and sees Kevin's head poking up from the water on the other side of the raft. He's also clinging to the ropes. The raft is somehow still intact, but it's stuck on the face of the boulder, pointing up towards the sky. They try to shake the raft free, but the surging water is pinning it to the rock. Then, Yossi looks to his left.

and his stomach drops. The boulder and the raft are teetering at the top of a waterfall. The water around them is cascading over the edge of a 12-foot drop. Even if they can get the raft loose, they'll be swept over the waterfall and plunged into even more dangerous rapids. Yossi clings to the raft for dear life and wonders if this raging river is the last thing he'll ever see.

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In 1981, three backpackers followed a mysterious Austrian named Karl Reprechter into the Bolivian rainforest, lured by the promise of adventure. But after a few weeks of slogging through the jungle, the party agreed to split up. Two of the men, Karl and another backpacker named Markus Stamm, retreated back to civilization. But Yossi Ginzburg and Kevin Gale chose to continue on, deeper into the jungle.

Their plan was to ride a makeshift raft more than 100 miles down the Tuichi River to a town called Rurinabake and then fly back to Bolivia's capital, La Paz. It would be the adventure of a lifetime if it didn't kill them first. This is episode two, Swept Away. Swept Away

Kevin Gale clutches the side of the raft and tries to shake it loose from where it's stuck against the boulder. But the force of the water has the raft pinned, and no amount of prying or bouncing can shake it free. He looks over at Yossi. There's a panicked look in his eyes. Kevin knows it's up to him to figure a way out of this.

To their left, the river plunges over a waterfall. Beyond that, it narrows even further, beneath towering canyon walls. This must be the place that Carl warned them about, a canyon called Malpaso San Pedro, ominously named for the saint who welcomes the dead to heaven. Kevin looks to his right.

and his mood picks up. Yossi, we're in luck. See that stretch of riverbank? If we can both get there with our supplies, we can leave the raft here. Then we can hike around the canyon to a spot downriver and build a new raft. It's too far to swim. Look at the current.

Kevin explains his plan. He'll swim the 20 feet to the riverbank, and Yossi will throw the machete to him. Then Kevin will scramble at the hillside into the jungle, hack down a vine, throw it to Yossi, and pull him and their gear to shore.

Most important is the Life Pack, a waterproof bag containing their most vital supplies: a first aid kit, map, mosquito nets, flashlight, poncho, lighter, and some rice and beans. Yossi shakes his head. "No, it's too dangerous!" But Kevin's made up his mind. They need to do something.

He takes off his boots, crams his socks inside them, and hands them to Yossi. Then he takes a deep breath and jumps into the river. The current is much stronger than he expected, but he musters all his energy and swims toward the shoreline. Soon he feels the riverbed beneath him and pulls himself to the rocky bank. He looks back and sees that the current has pushed him 25 yards downstream.

Yossi is yelling at him above the roar of the rapids. "Kevin! The raft is moving! Kevin!" Kevin races back up the narrow shoreline, jumping from rock to rock. "Quick, Yossi! Throw me my shoes!" With his free hand, Yossi hurls one shoe at a time toward Kevin. They land with a thump on the river bay. "Now the machete! Throw me the machete!"

Kevin steps aside as the machete spins in the air, the sunlight glinting off the metal, until it clatters onto the rocky shore. Kevin grabs the machete and looks back at Yossi. His friend is reaching toward him with his free hand, like he's trying to close the 20-foot distance between them. "Kevin!" Kevin can see that the raft is wobbling against the rock. It's about to break loose,

Hang on Yossi! The raft is going to slide to the left and you're going to go over that waterfall. So hang on tight! Don't let go! Then, in one abrupt motion, the raft jerks free from the rock and Kevin sees it and Yossi vanish over the edge.

Yossi opens his mouth to scream, but instead chokes on a mouthful of river. The raft is going over the waterfall and taking him with it. He wraps his hands around the ropes and shuts his eyes. He feels a sickening moment of freefall, then a crash, then suffocating, otherworldly silence.

He's underwater. He opens his eyes and sees nothing but darkness. His lungs burn, and he's still gripping the ropes. Is he upside down? Is the raft completely submerged? He can't tell. Suddenly, the river spits him to the surface. He gasps in relief, still clinging to the raft. He turns his head. Kevin is racing along the riverbank behind him.

But Yossi guesses he must be at least a hundred yards away. He screams to Kevin, I'll wait for you whenever I can get to shore! But Kevin is too far away, and the roar of the river is too loud. Yossi doubts his friend heard him. All he sees is Kevin waving as he recedes into the distance. Yossi pulls himself up to his knees and peers ahead. He sees frothing water and a great cluster of boulders.

And as the boulders draw closer, just beyond them, he hears it. The unmistakable sound of another waterfall. In horror, he realizes where he is. Malpaso San Pedro. The canyon Carl had warned them about. The one no one has ever made it through alive.

Kevin clutches the machete in one hand as he makes his way down the riverbank. He breathed a sigh of relief when he saw Yossi surface after disappearing over the waterfall. But now his friend has vanished again around a bend. The river is so fast, he figures that Yossi must be half a mile downstream by now.

Kevin quickens his pace, leaping from rock to rock. Night is falling, and the riverbank is now so narrow and steep he can barely keep going without risking a tumble into the water. He looks across the river. There's more of a shoreline on the other side, at least enough that he can keep walking downstream. He just needs to get to it. He ties the machete to his belt and wades into the river until he's forced to swim.

For every foot he swims, the river pushes him downstream another five. Finally, he makes it across and rests for a moment on the shore. He knows he needs to keep going. He heard Yossi shouting that he would wait for him on shore. Kevin needs to find his friend. Their best chance of survival is to stay together. That is, if Yossi isn't already dead.

Yossi clings desperately to the raft as he approaches another waterfall. He can't see how big the drop is, but the noise is tremendous. In the final seconds before he goes over, he turns around so his head is facing upstream. He doesn't want to see what's coming.

There's a mighty crash, and Yossi feels himself hurled into the air. The ropes slip from his hands. For a split second, he imagines his bones splintering on rocks. He squeezes his eyes shut, bracing for impact. But all he feels is water. Once again, he's submerged. Then his head bounces above the surface.

He sucks in precious oxygen and glances back upriver. Somehow, even though he fell off the raft, he passed through the waterfall and a minefield of boulders and emerged without a scrape. It's a miracle. He looks downstream and sees the raft just a few feet away.

The ropes holding the logs together have loosened, but it's still more or less intact. He swims to it and struggles aboard. Then he sees the life pack and feels a jolt of fear. The pack has come loose from where it was tethered to the raft, and it's sliding into the water. The life pack is just that. It's life. It's where Kevin stowed all their most important survival gear, and Yossi can't afford to lose it.

He reaches out to grab it, but it's too late. It slips from his grasp and splashes into the river. Yasi watches as the life pack bobs in the water behind him, trying not to take his eyes off it. But the raft is traveling faster than the life pack. Soon he rounds a bend in the river, and the pack disappears from view.

Did it get caught on something? Or is it still bobbing along somewhere behind him? Yossi decides he needs to stop as soon as possible, so he can either wait for the life pack to catch up or go back to look for it. But the current is still too strong, and the whitewater is too violent. He can't stop the raft, and he doesn't dare get off. He has no choice but to let himself be swept further and further downriver.

Finally, after what feels like an eternity, the white water subsides and the current starts to weaken. The late afternoon sun illuminates strips of shoreline on one side of the river. Yossi waits until the raft drifts near a riverbank and then jumps into the water. As soon as his feet touch the riverbed, he lets go of the raft. He has just enough strength to drag himself ashore, but the raft is too big and bulky for just one person.

He watches it drift down the river until it's out of sight. Then he wades ashore, exhausted, his heart pounding. He's so relieved he wants to kneel on the bank and kiss the dirt. Was abandoning the raft the right call? He isn't sure. But finding the life pack means more to his survival than riding the raft to who knows where.

Besides, now he can wait for Kevin, who's probably still scrambling through the jungle above the canyon, trying to catch up with him. He glances up at the canyon walls. They're less steep here, but still tower above him. If he can find a vantage point higher up, he can look upriver to see if he can spot the life pack. He digs his fingers into cracks in the stone wall and slowly makes his way up. At 15 feet, he cranes his head.

There, some 300 yards upriver, is the bag bobbing in an eddy between some rocks. He climbs back down and tries to walk upriver, but he quickly runs out of shoreline as the canyon walls descend directly into the water. He steps into the river, but the rocks are slippery. He worries he'll fall and break something. He needs to get that life pack, but it's getting dark. He takes a breath and talks to himself.

Easy now. Get some sleep. Get your energy back. You can try again in the morning. The life pack isn't going anywhere. Now he has a more pressing task: finding some shelter before nightfall. Yossi snaps some branches off the bushes growing on the riverbank. He finds an alcove in the hillside, overlooking the river and ducks inside.

He scatters leaves on the ground and piles the branches near the opening to serve as a barrier to any hungry predators. With a shiver, he remembers the jaguar tracks they found near the campsite a few weeks ago. Then he hears shouting above the noise of the river. "It must be Kevin!" He scrambles back down the riverbank and listens closely. It wasn't his imagination, but it's not Kevin. It's a family of monkeys chattering in the trees.

Yasi can't help it. He breaks down in tears. He has no food, no survival skills, just the sopping wet clothes on his back. He looks upriver one more time as darkness settles on the jungle. Sobbing, he makes his way back to the shelter. He stretches out on the leaves, trying to ignore the rocks digging into his back.

"Don't cry," he tells himself. "You're a man of action. Tomorrow you'll find the life pack, and then you'll find Kevin. All will be well." He repeats the phrase over and over. "Man of action. Man of action." Outside his little alcove, the jungle is alive with sounds. Birds, insects, animals. And every one of them sounds like a potential threat.

Yossi lies there, alternating between surges of exhaustion and panic. He knows that he needs to rest, but as the jungle chatters and rustles around him, he finds it impossible to sleep. And this night feels like it might never end.

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Head over to Symbiotica.com and use code "Odds" for 20% off and free shipping on your subscription order. Yossi Ginzburg clings to the rocks of a steep canyon wall, inching his way slowly upriver. He's been creeping along like this for hours, hoping to reach the life pack.

Now he descends gingerly down the cliffside towards some rocks where he thinks he saw the life pack last night. He jumps down the last few feet onto the riverbank and looks around. There it is. The life pack is floating in an eddy, not far from the shoreline. Thank you, God. He lies down on a rock and reaches out to haul in the pack.

When he opens it, another miracle. Everything's there. The matches, the lighter, the first aid kit, the rice, beans, and other provisions. Better yet, it's all dry. He sighs happily. Kevin, wherever he is, may have the machete, but Yossi feels wealthy by comparison.

At that thought, he's seized with worry for his friend. Without rations, mosquito nets, or a lighter, how long can Kevin last in the jungle? Kevin! Kevin! No answer. He hopes Kevin is nearby, making his way toward him. In the meantime, Yossi realizes he hasn't eaten in almost 24 hours. He doesn't want to dip into the rice and beans. Not yet. Who knows how long he'll be out here.

Then he notices some yellow fruits scattered on the shore. Most are rotting, but one looks fresh. He picks it up and takes a bite. And it's so delicious. Maybe his luck really has turned. He looks up and spots a tree jutting out from the canyon wall. Its branches sag with more of the yellow fruit. He starts to climb towards it. But then he notices something moving near his feet.

He looks down and sees a snake, green and coiled, nestled into the rock face. He suspects it's a lora, a venom-spitting snake Carl had warned them about. He takes a step backward, reaches down, and grabs a rock. He hurls it at the snake. It's a direct hit. Triumphantly, he holds up the snake's lifeless green body. "You're a man of action," he tells himself. For a moment, he considers eating the snake.

but he doesn't want to consume it raw, and everything is too damp for him to make a fire. Finally, he tosses the snake away. For now, he'll just eat the fruit. It's just like Carl said, the jungle is full of game. He's sure he can find something else to eat later. Yossi wakes with a start. He's panting.

The images from his dream so vivid, he thinks they must be real. In the dream, Kevin was calling out to him, begging Yossi not to leave him alone to die. He looks around. A soft rain is falling around him as the jungle takes on an eerie glow in the early morning light. Yossi pushes off the poncho he'd covered himself with and unwraps himself from the mosquito net.

They were a poor substitute for a tent or a sleeping bag, but at least they kept him dry. He places all his gear back into the life pack and starts walking. He makes his way up into the jungle so he can walk upriver along the cliffside and continue to search for Kevin. Last night, he treated himself to something close to a meal: three cloves of garlic, a lemon, and some more fruit he'd found. He's actually feeling energized.

Every few minutes, he calls out Kevin's name. "Kevin!" The rain starts coming down harder as he reaches the top of the cliff. He pauses under a thick canopy of trees, where he's partly shielded from the rain, and reaches into the life pack. He takes out the map of Bolivia. It's soaked and torn, and its scale makes it next to useless. But it's better than nothing. He traces his finger along the Tuichi River, trying to guess where he is.

Further down the Tu'ichi, Carl drew an X on the map. Supposedly, that marks the location of Curri Playa, an abandoned gold mining camp. Carl said they could find shelter there and a banana grove. And then it was only a few days' hike to civilization, a town called San Jose.

For a moment, Yossi considers turning around and hiking downriver towards Kurri Playa. The sooner he heads in that direction, the sooner he can escape the jungle. But he can't abandon Kevin. Not yet. Their chances of survival are best if they are together, and he knows Kevin would do the same for him. Kevin! Where are you? Kevin!

Still no answer. Yossi hoists the life pack onto his back and secures the straps over his shoulders, then continues trudging along the cliffside, upriver, looking for his friend. Yossi fishes around in the life pack and finds a bottle of pills. On the label, someone wrote in marker the word "uppers."

Yasi pops one into his mouth and resumes his walk along the ledge overlooking the Tuichi. He's been hiking upriver for hours, and his feet are killing him. He's hoping the pill will give him the energy to keep going. Before long, he feels a jolt from the upper. He picks up the pace. His hunger pangs fade. The rain hasn't let up since morning, but he hardly notices it anymore.

Soon he'll find Kevin, and together they'll figure out a way to get home. Yossi stops abruptly. Ahead of him, the ledge drops off steeply. One more step and he'd be tumbling 200 feet down the cliff to the river below. He looks down. From this height, he wonders if he could see Kevin. Even if he's there, he feels useless. After hours of hiking, he has no choice but to turn back.

He remembers a small cave he passed a while ago. At least it's some shelter. He can backtrack and plan his next move. Twilight is seeping through the jungle when he reaches the cave. He gathers some dry twigs and lights a fire with one of the precious matches. Rain streams down the mouth of the cave. Yossi collects some of the rainwater in a tin can, then boils it over the fire. He throws in a spoonful of rice and beans from the life pack, along with a clove of garlic and some salt.

He's ravenous, but he has to conserve what little food he has. When he's done, he looks down at his shoes. They've been soaked through for days, and he dreads the prospect of seeing his feet. But he has to air them out. He takes off his hiking shoes. His socks are stained yellow and red, and the smell almost makes him gag. Carefully, Yossi peels the socks down over his feet. It's agonizing.

Underneath his toes are a mass of inflamed pus. His skin is oozing blood. He digs around in the life pack, searching for some Vaseline. Instead, he finds insect-propellant cream, which he gently rubs on his feet. The pain is intense. As night falls, he tries to sleep, but his feet keep waking him up. He's almost delirious with the pain, burning with fever. He's never felt so alone.

Yossi trudges up a steep incline as he heads toward the crest of a mountain. Sweat drips from his face, and humidity glues his clothes to his skin. He's thirsty and can't help but wonder, have I made a terrible mistake? It's December 6th, 1981, his sixth day alone in the jungle. Yossi spent the past two days in the cave, letting his feet heal and regaining his strength.

He allowed himself tiny amounts of rice and beans and waited for any sign of Kevin. But there was nothing. This morning, he decided that somehow he and Kevin must have missed each other. Kevin was probably already way downriver by now, maybe even waiting for him in Curri Playa.

Even if Kevin isn't there, if he's lost or injured somewhere, Yossi needs to reach civilization to organize a search party. Either way, Yossi has to find his own way out. That's what a man of action does.

Then, he had what he thought was a brilliant idea. When the path along the river cleared, he spotted a mountain range in the distance. It's above the tree line, clear of all the thick jungle foliage that had blocked his path along the river. If he could just make his way up there, he thought, he'd make great time.

No more trying to push his way through the jungle with no machete. Instead, he could run. Plus, he could travel in a straight line, instead of following the meandering riverbank. Judging from the map, Curiplaja is no more than seven miles away as the crow flies. He could get there in a day. That was the idea, anyway. But now he's been climbing for hours. The mountains looked close, but they're clearly miles away.

Then he hears the faint rushing of water. It can't be the Tuichi, he thinks. He hasn't even reached the top of the mountain range yet, much less come down the other side. Is it another river? He emerges from the foliage onto a stream and looks up. The roar is from a waterfall over a hundred feet high.

The rock face behind the waterfall is slick with moss. Vines snake upward. It's a staggering sight. And Yossi finds himself surprised that even in his desperate condition, he can appreciate the beauty. He lies down on his stomach and scoops the water from the stream into his mouth. It's cool and refreshing. He studies his reflection in the water.

He has a beard now, and his eyes and cheeks are sunken. He almost doesn't recognize himself. How much weight has he lost since he began this jungle expedition more than a month ago? 10 pounds? 20? He unscrews the caps from two tin containers and fills them. The water has added weight, but he knows he'll go through it quickly. He rests for a while, taking in the view, then shoulders the life pack and continues on.

Finally, toward the end of the day, he reaches a mountain peak and looks around. He's above the treeline, but which way is the river? He turns in every direction, but sees only wooded slopes. He looks toward the setting sun and curses himself. He should have made a mental note of where the sun set relative to the river. Then he'd know which way to go. He can't believe he made such a foolish mistake. Steady, Yossi. You're a man of action.

So act. He decides he'll make camp here tonight, then head back the way he came tomorrow. He has to get back to the river. Once he's there, he'll follow it to Kuripalaya. He finds a flat area and ties one of his two mosquito nets to some tree stumps to form a makeshift tent. Next, he looks for firewood, but everything is soaked. He remembers with a pang throwing the machete to Kevin from the raft, if only he had it now.

He could cut the wet bark from the wood to expose the dry part. As night falls, he wraps himself into the second mosquito net and the poncho. Every sound in the jungle convinces him that he's being hunted by some wild animal. His only defenses are a spoon to bang against his tin containers, a flashlight, and a cigarette lighter and can of mosquito repellent, which he can use as a flamethrower.

As the dark of night grows deeper, the jungle noises increase. Insects, howler monkeys, and animals that sound like they're in agony. Hours pass, and Yossi is drifting off. When he hears a rustling sound, he starts banging the tin can. Shoo! Get out of here! He lies back down, his heart thumping in his chest. But the rustling continues, as quietly as he can.

He grabs his flashlight and pulls aside the mosquito net. He clicks on the flashlight and his heart stops. Two glowing eyes peer at him from no more than 12 feet away. Yossi immediately knows it's a jaguar and it's hunting it.

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Yossi Ginsberg trembles under his mosquito net. He's face to face with a jaguar. Its green eyes glow in the beam of his flashlight.

Its muscles ripple under its black spots and golden fur. It stands motionless, except for the slow swishing of its tail. Yossi is frozen too, but his heart pounds. He's never felt such primal terror. The animal is enormous. Yossi thinks it probably weighs more than he does.

He waits for a roar or a snarl or a step forward. But the jaguar just stares at him as if oblivious to the flashlight's beam. "Go away! Get out of here!" The jaguar doesn't move and Yossi starts to shout. "Go on! Get out of here, you son of a bitch! I will burn you up!" Yossi clamps the flashlight between his teeth and feels around him for the bug spray and the lighter.

His hands shaking, he flicks the wheel of the lighter until a small flame appears. Then, he raises it toward his other hand, which is holding the aerosol can.

He presses down on the nozzle as hard as he can. A jet of flame shoots out toward the Jaguar. He catches the whiff of a terrible odor and realizes he's burned the hair on the back of his hand. Still, he sprays on. He keeps the flame alive with the lighter for what seems like minutes until the aerosol can is shooting nothing but air. The Jaguar is gone.

Yossi thinks he hears its footsteps, but isn't sure of anything anymore. He's shivering with fear, his hands still shaking. He takes the flashlight from his mouth and sweeps the beam across the campsite. He won't be getting any sleep tonight. Yossi wades through a river, rain slashing down on him in sheets. After the encounter with the jaguar two nights ago, Yossi started backtracking, trying to get back to the Tuichi.

He followed a stream downhill, which merged with other streams until it was a fast-flowing, full-blown river. Yossi doesn't think it's the Tu'ichi. It's too narrow and not deep enough. The water is only up to his thighs. But he does feel sure that it will lead him to the Tu'ichi.

Despite all the trials, his aching feet, his growling stomach, the insect bites, he feels someone is watching over him. Otherwise, wouldn't he be dead by now? He takes another step downstream and suddenly finds himself swept off his feet by the current. He falls into the water, and a powerful undertow is soon pulling him downstream. He hears a now familiar sound, another waterfall.

He tries to swim towards shore, but the weight of the life pack slows him down. Still, he can't abandon it. It's too important. Finally, he grasps a rock near the shoreline, clinging to the moss coating its surface. Turning his head, he peers downriver. The waterfall drop ahead must be 20 feet. With great effort, he hauls himself out of the water and up onto the shore. He takes stock.

Besides being soaked, his clothes are in tatters. His feet are wet and throbbing. And he's so weak from fatigue and hunger that he can barely stand. But at least he's still alive. He scrambles along the shoreline, following the river downstream. He keeps going, even as it grows dark. He hears more roaring water ahead. Another waterfall? No. This sound is deeper.

He rounds a bend, and in the twilight, he sees it. The Tu'ichi. He's made it. And he's learned his lesson. He's definitely not going to let this river out of his sight until he makes it to Kuriflaya. As if he needs another encouraging sign, the rain stops. He finds a small cave beneath the roots of a tree on the riverbank and settles in for the night. He stares out of the cave and can see a patch of starry sky.

Tomorrow, he'll get to Kuripalaya. He's sure of it. Yossi stands at the confluence of two rivers, the nameless one he followed down from the mountain and the one it flows into, the Tuichi.

Part of him doesn't want to leave this spot. It seems to have everything he needs. In fact, he stayed here a day longer than he'd intended. He found a tamarind tree and knocked some of its fruit down with rocks. Eating the fruit meant he didn't have to dip into his dwindling reserves of rice and beans. He even managed to dry his clothes by hanging them on some driftwood. He looks around the wide beach,

A rescue plane could spot him easily in this open space. But he can't sit and wait for rescue. Who's to say if it'll even come? He sighs and takes out the map once again. If he's where he thinks he is, then Kuripalaya is just a half mile or so downriver on the Tuichi. Kevin might be waiting for him there. And if he isn't, then Yossi needs to get to civilization quickly in order to mount a search party for him.

Yossi has been careful to keep track of the days, so he knows it's December 10th, 10 days since he and Kevin got separated. And unlike him, Kevin has no life pack, no rice or beans or other provisions, just a machete. Yossi worries that his friend might not be able to survive much longer in the jungle by himself. He gathers his things and begins walking along the Tewichi Riverbank.

Occasionally, when the bank gets too narrow and rocky, he climbs up into the jungle and pushes his way through the dense foliage. But he's careful not to let the river out of his sight.

After trekking for several hours, he starts to worry. Did he miss Kuri Playa? Did Carl even know what he was talking about? Then he sees something. A fallen tree. Only it didn't fall. It was cut down. He can tell by the machete marks. Someone's been here. He feels a rush of energy and walks faster, noticing other trees that have been cut down.

Kevin!

No response. No Kevin. Still, Yossi is feeling upbeat that he's made it this far. He realizes that Carl has been right about everything. The dangerous rapids at Malpaso San Pedro, the location of Curri Playa. And that must mean that something else Carl said is true. Just a few days' hike from here is an actual town called San Jose.

For a second, a crazy thought occurs to him. He actually hopes he isn't rescued. He wants to make it out of the jungle on his own. He enters a hut and finds a wooden platform, raised off the floor on little stakes. It's a bed. He collapses onto it, exhausted. Soon he'll make his way to San Jose and organize a search party for his friend. But first, he needs to rest.

Kevin Gale waits outside the office of a Bolivian Navy commander in the jungle city of Rurinabake. He's trying to organize a search for Yossi Ginzburg, and he needs help. A lot of it. It's December 10th, and he's trying to ignore the voice inside his head. The voice is telling him that there's no way Yossi is still alive. Not after the current swept him into Malpaso San Pedro ten days ago, leaving Kevin behind.

But then again, Kevin made it out. He trekked down the river for days, climbing into the jungle when he couldn't negotiate the river. By the fifth day, with his feet killing him, he took a gamble. He found a sturdy log, straddled it, and floated downriver. He passed a group of abandoned huts and guessed that it might be Kuripalaya. He yelled for Yossi, but there was no response.

He figured he would just float on, that eventually the river would take him to civilization. Sure enough, after just a few hours, he saw two men in a boat, fishing. He waved frantically from the log. They paddled over to him, and he clambered aboard. He was saved. It took several more days to get to Rurunabake, but now, finally, he's here, sitting in a waiting room for an audience with the military man. He can't believe it.

He looks up at the sound of the door to the street opening. Two men enter, wearing clerical collars. They introduce themselves as priests from Switzerland who live here. Are you the man who walked out of the jungle? I am. But my friend is still out there. I need to organize a search party to find him. Kevin explains everything to the priests, and they help translate what he's saying to the Navy commander's secretary. But she seems uninterested in helping.

She keeps saying the commander is in an important meeting, and there are no phone lines to La Paz, so she can't call the Israeli embassy. Finally, one of the priests puts a hand on Kevin's shoulder. Come with us. We'll give you a warm meal, and tomorrow we can get you on the plane to La Paz. From there, you can properly organize a search party. Kevin jumps up.

He can't wait for the Navy commander anymore, and these men seem to be willing to help. But as they are stepping outside, the second priest looks at him and shakes his head. Your concern for your friend is admirable. But if he was swept into the canyon, as you say, he's almost certainly dead. No one has ever survived those rapids.

Kevin tries to shake it off, but part of him suspects that the priest might be right. Still, he has to try. He needs to get on a plane to La Paz. Because one thing is for certain, if Yossi is still alive, he won't be for much longer.

This is episode two of our three-part series, Lost in the Rainforest. A quick note about our scenes. In most cases, we can't know exactly what was said, but everything is based on historical research. If you'd like to learn more about this event, we highly recommend the book Jungle by Yossi Ginsberg. I'm your host, Cassie DePeckel. Steve Fennessy wrote this episode. Our editor is Alyssa Adams. Script consulting by Yossi Ginsberg.

Sound design and Dolby Atmos mix by Outhouse Audio. Audio engineer is Sergio Enriquez. Coordinating producer is Desi Blaylock. Produced by Alita Rozanski and Emily Frost. Managing producer is Matt Gant. Senior managing producer is Ryan Lohr. Senior producer is Andy Herman. Executive producers are Jenny Lauer-Beckman, Stephanie Jens, and Marsha Louis. For Wondery. Wondery.

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