A Japanese adventurer recently ended a nine-month, 8,800-km journey through South America, in which he traveled by foot pulling a cart loaded with 70 kg of baggage.
Tadashi Nagase, 48, told a Kyodo News reporter in Osaka by telephone that he arrived safely March 15 at his final destination in the town of Ushuaia, Argentina, on the southernmost tip of the continent.
After leaving Puerto La Cruz, Venezuela, in late June, Nagase traveled southward through Brazil, Bolivia and Chile.
"The trip was so hard. I was longing for it to be over, but I made it to the end through sheer willpower," Nagase, still in Argentina, said over the phone.
A native of Shimane Prefecture and a resident of Osaka, Nagase is known as an adventurer who travels by foot. In 1990, he walked through the Sahara Desert with a cart of baggage.
He said he lost 10 kg during the journey through South America, and that he used three pairs of shoes.
Nagase said he experienced his share of troubles, such as coming across a 3-meter-long alligator, being forced to change routes because of political uncertainty in Bolivia, and having to deal with flat tires on his cart.
Nagase said that in Brazil, he had to use a ferryboat to go a distance of around 580 km because he was warned by the local people about jaguars in the jungle.
He is to return to his wife and 1-year-old and 6-year-old sons in Osaka this month.