Maximo Napa, 61 years old, set out on December 7 last year from San Juan de Marcona, a coastal town in southern Peru. But a storm caused his small fishing boat to drift, according to the state news agency Andina.
Three months later, he could be rescued by the crew of a ship from Ecuador – dehydrated and in critical condition but alive.
In an interview with local media, Napa says he survived by drinking rainwater, eating cockroaches, birds, and a turtle.
I didn't want to die, for my mother's sake. And I have a grandchild who is a few months old. That kept me alive, he says.