the dying wish of his former shipmate.

Now Jose Salvador Alvarenga washed up in the Marshall Islands after more than a year adrift at sea. Now his companion in that boat did not survive the trip. And Alvarenga has now paid an emotional visit to the mother of that young man. CNN's Rafael Romo has the story.

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RAFAEL ROMO, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: It was the promise he made to a dying man to go visit his mother and tell her in person how his friend had died and share with her his last words.

Still walking slowly, but now speaking fluently, Jose Salvador Alvarenga flew from San Salvador to Mexico where he was to meet his friend's family in the coastal town of El Fortin (ph).

"It's a promise that weboth had made, and now I'm here to fulfill it," he said after landing in Mexico City.

The 37-year-old fisherman appeared in the Marshall Islands in late January and told authorities there he had drifted on a small fishing boat for 13 months all the way from Mexico, more than 6,000 miles away.

23-year-old Ezequiel Cordova, his companion, had died four weeks into the ordeal, Alvarenga said, because he couldn't manage to drink turtle blood and eat raw fish.

ROSALIA DIAZ, EZEQUIEL CORDOVA'S MOTHER (through translator): For me, it would have been sadder if both had died, because I would have never known what happened to my son. So I'm very happy to see him again.

ROMO: Alvarenga says Cordova would often talk about his mother.

JOSE SALVADOR ALVARENGA, SALVADORAN CASTAWAY (through translator):