Yossi Ghinsberg - Surviving Alone in the Amazon — Transcript

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1. 0:00hi I'm Brian Lord president of premier
2. 0:02speakers bureau and the host of the
3. 0:04beyond speaking podcast today I'm very
4. 0:06excited I love stories I love drama I
5. 0:09love adventure and you couldn't ask for
6. 0:12anybody more than then Yossi Ginsberg
7. 0:14CEO see thanks for coming on today great
8. 0:15pleasure Brian thank you now I just
9. 0:17finished your book jungle and you've got
10. 0:20this this movie coming out starring
11. 0:23Daniel Radcliffe as you as Josi
12. 0:26what do you what if you're watching this
13. 0:28movie and somebody comes in how are you
14. 0:30liking how are you different than Daniel
15. 0:32Radcliffe and so most people if you
16. 0:33don't know name that is the the
17. 0:35character whose mess most well known for
18. 0:37playing Harry Potter how are you like
19. 0:39how are you different from him look
20. 0:40first of all I'm you know I'm so honored
21. 0:42because he's is an iconic figure you
22. 0:45know like I think if they make it time
23. 0:47capsule of this century and it would be
24. 0:50in you know I mean Harry Potter for
25. 0:52short so and he's a great actor son I'm
26. 0:57honored and he's doing also a great job
27. 0:59as an actor but I don't think it plays
28. 1:03me I don't think when I see the movie
29. 1:05it's not me
30. 1:06it's playing my character is following
31. 1:09the storyline but I cannot identify even
32. 1:12though you know it it it tried I give
33. 1:16him that and he interviewed me for many
34. 1:19hours and he asked a list of what music
35. 1:23I was listening to which books I was
36. 1:25reading at the time when I was 22 and he
37. 1:30had a coach and the addiction coach you
38. 1:34know to grasp the accent but I don't
39. 1:41somehow I don't identify with the
40. 1:43character as me maybe it's a protection
41. 1:46mechanism of my own you know because the
42. 1:49movie is such an externalization of my
43. 1:53story it's processes that took a lot for
44. 1:56me just to let go so maybe it's part of
45. 1:59the of the let go but as I say is doing
46. 2:02a great job it does follow the storyline
47. 2:05and it's very powerful for those
48. 2:08listening we got to cheat a little bit
49. 2:09and watch a couple of the scenes from
50. 2:12the movie it's just it
51. 2:14looks amazing and and just the even just
52. 2:18the scenes that we saw just very
53. 2:20gripping and emotional and and and so
54. 2:23take us back to that time how did you
55. 2:25decide to go down there and what made
56. 2:27you go on this specific adventure into
57. 2:30the Amazon with a couple of friends and
58. 2:32a and a guide well I say never
59. 2:36underestimate the power of a naive a
60. 2:38dreamer because you gotta be naive to be
61. 2:41a dreamer you know if you're skeptic
62. 2:44then your dreaming is s Kapisa because
63. 2:47it will never happen
64. 2:48so it's escapism you dream but you'll
65. 2:50never try escapism is a bad form of
66. 2:53dreaming and the naive dreamer is one
67. 2:56that is bright eye and has no choice but
68. 2:58you know his heart is going for it and
69. 3:01and I say you know like when when I have
70. 3:04a dream I don't say I have a dream I say
71. 3:06the dream as me the moment I have a
72. 3:08dream I started working for the dream
73. 3:10and this was the case this was an
74. 3:11obsession for many years I read many
75. 3:14adventure books and I got fascinated
76. 3:16with the Amazon but it was much more
77. 3:19specific I had a plan and the plan was
78. 3:23based on the book I read that is called
79. 3:25Papillon by enrich our ear in this book
80. 3:28is the prisoner in The Devil's Island
81. 3:30and he manages to escape and is washed
82. 3:33to the shores of an Isabella and
83. 3:36escaping into the forest is found by a
84. 3:39tribe and is adopted by the tribe and
85. 3:42the chief like same so he offers his
86. 3:45daughter so he marries the Chiefs
87. 3:47daughter a sister gets really upset so
88. 3:50he marries the sister as well so there
89. 3:51he is in the middle of the Amazon
90. 3:53married to the two beautiful daughters
91. 3:55of the chief finding gold and pearls and
92. 3:58all that I said this is I'm gonna do
93. 4:00that but I was serious I was so naive I
94. 4:03was serious so when you have a dream you
95. 4:05know there's also like obstacles I had
96. 4:07to once I I was released from the
97. 4:10military service because we do mandatory
98. 4:12three years I was 21 I worked for a year
99. 4:15just to save enough money so I can
100. 4:17travel I I got to South America I
101. 4:19traveled for another year finally I
102. 4:21found my adventure in the form of an
103. 4:24Austrian geologist in the streets of La
104. 4:26Paz
105. 4:27that offered me to join him in into the
106. 4:30Uncharted to encounter a tribe that was
107. 4:32never explored to culture before the
108. 4:34Toro Mona's and to find gold in the
109. 4:37river
110. 4:37of course when somebody tells you your
111. 4:39own dream what can you do but follow
112. 4:41them it was a con artist this was not
113. 4:44true I didn't know that and two of my
114. 4:47friend joined me and this is turned to a
115. 4:49bigger than life misadventure two of us
116. 4:51never came back one is the guide
117. 4:54actually the Austrian never came back
118. 4:56nor my best friend at the time the Swiss
119. 4:59and backpackers are troubled with me and
120. 5:04so that's what brought me there I would
121. 5:07say my life were saved but but by my
122. 5:10friend the only one of us that made it
123. 5:13out but his life were saved by
124. 5:15indigenous people that came back with
125. 5:17him to save me so I went back to this in
126. 5:21Jesus indigenous people the only tribe
127. 5:23that lived in that remote part of the
128. 5:26world and in the end I realized my dream
129. 5:29I became one of the tribe I found
130. 5:33reaches not of gold but much more than
131. 5:36that I understood what the diversity
132. 5:38means to the world I got married in the
133. 5:43Amazon I brought my own wife
134. 5:48I brought two acts with me but I did get
135. 5:50married in the middle of the Amazon in a
136. 5:52shamanic ritual with lots of indigenous
137. 5:56people in deep deep in the Amazon so
138. 5:59when you really you know you go for your
139. 6:03dream in the end life helps you but
140. 6:06there's a lot of obstacles on the way
141. 6:07now I'm in reading the book there you
142. 6:11don't have to give the entire movie way
143. 6:12but but what are some of the ways that
144. 6:14some of the challenges you face some of
145. 6:16the things you escape I love the the
146. 6:18Jaguar story so I'm kind of cheating and
147. 6:20hoping that comes in here but what are a
148. 6:22couple of the challenges that you faced
149. 6:23while you were alone in the Amazon I
150. 6:26think the word alone is the main
151. 6:29challenge this was the biggest one you
152. 6:32know and I think that was my biggest
153. 6:35realization how much we are social you
154. 6:38know
155. 6:38and till this day I'm telling you my
156. 6:41assets are my friends that's my richness
157. 6:44in life is friendship and this was the
158. 6:47most difficult you know the first thing
159. 6:49was survival food and protection Jaguar
160. 6:51but in terms of like the need the need
161. 6:54was human contact you know and it wasn't
162. 6:57you know it wasn't about sex or
163. 6:59something like that it was just
164. 7:00companionship you know I I was
165. 7:02elucidating all the time but I never
166. 7:04hallucinating about sex I just
167. 7:06elucidated about food and companionship
168. 7:08so I guess those are very very deep
169. 7:11basic needs and the one is of course
170. 7:14just substance but me immediately after
171. 7:18substance is the connection human
172. 7:21connection and and there was no way out
173. 7:23of that loneliness and the only thing
174. 7:26they could do is actually elucidate
175. 7:29hallucinate that and to survive again
176. 7:34the power of dreaming the power of
177. 7:36imagining and I didn't sleep for 20 days
178. 7:39and not even one night for the 29th that
179. 7:42I spent there not even one night I slept
180. 7:44so my only way to recover and to
181. 7:46regenerate and to rest and was to
182. 7:49actually elucidate because it allow me
183. 7:52to rest so I would I loosen it all the
184. 7:54time and at a certain point and this is
185. 7:57a very powerful story and I was already
186. 8:02fifteen days alone when a flood took me
187. 8:05and I escaped the flood to the hills two
188. 8:10days later after the flood receded I was
189. 8:13in a very bad shape
190. 8:14I was already crawling on my elbows and
191. 8:16knees and an airplane passed in the sky
192. 8:20when I heard this plane I understood it
193. 8:22searching for me but the flood pushed me
194. 8:24deep under the canopy and I was running
195. 8:26and screaming and the airplane just
196. 8:28totally oblivious left me behind and
197. 8:32something snapped inside of me and I
198. 8:34just collapsed and I cried and cried and
199. 8:37then you know I started praying and I
200. 8:38gave up so please God just let me let me
201. 8:41die Donna and I totally gave up so was a
202. 8:47relief in giving up
203. 8:49at that moment it's the most
204. 8:51unbelievable thing somebody started
205. 8:54crying next to me so I'm lying there in
206. 8:56demand and I hear somebody's like
207. 8:59sobbing next to me and this is
208. 9:00impossible I'm alone but somebody's
209. 9:03there crying and it's so weird but I
210. 9:05hear it that I raise my head and I look
211. 9:09can't believe it there's a woman next to
212. 9:12me in demand I jumped on my feet and
213. 9:15when I seize her I have like an
214. 9:16understanding now like the airplane may
215. 9:18come back we cannot afford wasting time
216. 9:20so I start screaming at a get up get up
217. 9:22and I pull her from the mud and I start
218. 9:25running for you know searching for like
219. 9:28to find an opening so then the airplane
220. 9:30can see it so I'm pulling her and
221. 9:32running with her for two days non-stop
222. 9:36I'm talking to this girl taking care of
223. 9:39her but two days later at night I'm
224. 9:42finding myself making air place to sleep
225. 9:45next to me not in my head under the tree
226. 9:49now I'm injured I'm one big open wound
227. 9:52I haven't eaten you know since the flood
228. 9:55nothing I'm basically just skin hanging
229. 9:59over bone and I'm making the effort to
230. 10:02make a camp for two people breaking palm
231. 10:05fronds and calling her next to me and
232. 10:07then Isis is nobody there I want to tell
233. 10:11you Brian is that as opposed to my
234. 10:14hallucinations that were were my
235. 10:16imagination that I used this wasn't my
236. 10:19elucidation I didn't make it up
237. 10:21I it wasn't me so I don't know who
238. 10:28created this girl if she was imagination
239. 10:30I cannot take ownership of that because
240. 10:34it just came to me and I don't know what
241. 10:37to make of it what I know is that she
242. 10:39saved my life
243. 10:39she did save my life because I gave up
244. 10:41on life but the way she said my life is
245. 10:44genius she didn't come to help me she
246. 10:48needed my help
247. 10:49what saved my life was that somebody
248. 10:52else needed my help how amazing it is
249. 10:55you know I couldn't do anything for
250. 10:56myself but the moment somebody needed me
251. 10:59I suddenly found the power to get up and
252. 11:01help her
253. 11:03you know and that I understood something
254. 11:06about life power is given when you give
255. 11:08it this was one thing about her and one
256. 11:14of the you know most amazing miracles
257. 11:16for me is the appearance of the girl and
258. 11:18again you know the powers that you know
259. 11:21we in the connection the Jaguar I'll
260. 11:25give you the Jaguars like yeah and the
261. 11:28Jaguar look so many Jaguars around me
262. 11:32and that's why I was hallucinating it's
263. 11:35nice because there was no morning that I
264. 11:37wouldn't see the power of Jaguars around
265. 11:40the place where I slept they were around
266. 11:42me every night now I had no fire
267. 11:45I had no gun I had no knife and I
268. 11:48couldn't sleep and I know the Jaguars
269. 11:50are walking they're my only way to deal
270. 11:52with it were just escaped by Lucia
271. 11:54nation just to avoid them but on the
272. 11:5769th you know like somebody some
273. 11:59something was just breaking you know I
274. 12:02heard something moving next to me and at
275. 12:08that stage you know like I found a few
276. 12:10things in the river like one of the bags
277. 12:12and I had a lighter and in that bags or
278. 12:17the mosquito repellent there's like a
279. 12:19mosquito net and also a lighter so I
280. 12:24slept with the lighter and the mosquito
281. 12:27repellent as my weapon that was my only
282. 12:29weapon because I knew I couldn't I can
283. 12:31set it on fire and I had also very faint
284. 12:35I mean dying flashlight and so I put the
285. 12:41flashlight on a couple of times and then
286. 12:43I see the cat you know like a big cat
287. 12:46just maybe about six yards for me and
288. 12:51you know I panicked then I managed to
289. 12:54put the you know the the the flashlight
290. 12:57in my in my mouth and I just took the
291. 12:59can and I just sprayed that it you know
292. 13:02like sprayed fired at it and I managed
293. 13:04to chase it away you know it's I don't
294. 13:08know how I survived in the Jaguars I
295. 13:11don't know because they were there
296. 13:13it was a very tough rainy season and
297. 13:16there are many miracles in this story
298. 13:19you know like I say about this Brian
299. 13:21that the miracles that I saw they didn't
300. 13:25have time to put the veil I just saw the
301. 13:28miracles happening you just so want you
302. 13:30know is the boat turning yeah in the
303. 13:33place where I collapsed you know in 120
304. 13:35miles of search they stopped to turn the
305. 13:38boat where I collapsed the night before
306. 13:40you know it's like things like that
307. 13:42everybody that was present in the moment
308. 13:44could feel it's not just coincidence you
309. 13:47know I wasn't supposed to die I wasn't
310. 13:49supposed to die you know like something
311. 13:51and I never rationalized that and I
312. 13:54never say oh no it's a state of mind not
313. 13:56and and in that sense I found my faith
314. 14:00as well now obviously your story is is
315. 14:03so unique of you know going through the
316. 14:07Amazon being alone fighting off you know
317. 14:10Jaguars and so how does someone who is
318. 14:14not experiencing that what did they take
319. 14:17away from your story when people come up
320. 14:18to you or email you afterwards what what
321. 14:21did they take away from like how do you
322. 14:23know that this is hitting home with it
323. 14:24yeah well I tell you that because you
324. 14:27know I wasn't an extreme sport person I
325. 14:31wasn't like I was just a a guy you know
326. 14:36I didn't think of myself as able to
327. 14:39survive that I was actually sure that I
328. 14:42will die a terrible miserable torturous
329. 14:45death
330. 14:45I was sure and I didn't have what it
331. 14:49takes that was my knee and just you know
332. 14:53that's the state of mind that I was in
333. 14:56the elements were too you know too big
334. 15:00and mighty and the circumstances were
335. 15:03the worst possible circumstances you
336. 15:05know like in the midst of a terrible
337. 15:08rainy season alone so far from
338. 15:10civilization hundreds of miles away from
339. 15:12civilization and that's what people
340. 15:14think you know my self-discovery
341. 15:16you know my self-discovery is that we're
342. 15:20much stronger you know we're much wiser
343. 15:22and you know when when you lose
344. 15:26everything
345. 15:27maybe you lose also the self-doubt and
346. 15:29an inadequacy and self unworthiness it's
347. 15:33sometimes we feel towards ourselves and
348. 15:36the truth is that we are not in survival
349. 15:40situation we are victims of non survival
350. 15:42that's the when people are in survival
351. 15:44situations they rise I tell you my story
352. 15:46is exotic but my ex-wife she was going
353. 15:50through births cancer and she was going
354. 15:52through chemotherapy and radiation and
355. 15:56you know what then ty family leaned on
356. 15:59their not supported their leaned on her
357. 16:02when she faced all the she rose so big
358. 16:05because when we face death when survival
359. 16:08is a real survival we rise naturally we
360. 16:11rise we do find the power and it's so
361. 16:13tremendous that other people can draw
362. 16:15this power from us you know this is the
363. 16:17secret of Survivor survivor empowers us
364. 16:20survivor is the meaning of life it's
365. 16:22actually the true meaning of life is
366. 16:24survival because what are we doing here
367. 16:26we here to hang on every single breath
368. 16:29that's the purpose of life it's
369. 16:31preservation it's the purpose it's
370. 16:33sacred purpose and we are drawn so far
371. 16:36from it and it's obstructed but so many
372. 16:39nonsense I mean one moment of survival
373. 16:42all the nonsense disappear who cares
374. 16:44about what they say and the titles and
375. 16:46the money just give me one more press
376. 16:50one more breath you know ask a dying
377. 16:52person
378. 16:53one more breath is worth more than
379. 16:55anything you know it's sacred
380. 16:58so that reminder and you know they feel
381. 17:03it because I touch it you know so I
382. 17:05don't tell them they experience it
383. 17:07that's what a good storyteller I would
384. 17:09do because I am I let them experience it
385. 17:13emotionally not not think about ideas
386. 17:15and people cry and they go saw something
387. 17:18yesterday I was on a conference and you
388. 17:21know as women said I'm you know I'm
389. 17:23changed you know like and that's why I
390. 17:26look at that as a rare gift and I thread
391. 17:29very very gingerly because people open
392. 17:31their hearts
393. 17:32people allow me to touch this also
394. 17:34that's a huge privilege and I'll never
395. 17:36abuse it
396. 17:41[Music]
397. 17:45you