After a warm welcome back home to El Salvador, the castaway who says he spent more than a year lost in the Pacific Ocean, wants the media to leave him alone.

(SOUNDBITE) (Spanish) FISHERMAN, JOSE SALVADOR ALVARENGA, SAYING:

"I'd like them (media) to leave me in peace. I don't want to put pressure on medics, I don't want to speak to them. I want to be in peace, that my family are at peace."

Jose Salvador Alvarenga is reportedly in good physical health, but the country's health minister says his ordeal has left him emotionally exhausted.

(SOUNDBITE) (Spanish) EL SALVADOR'S HEALTH MINISTER MARIA ISABEL RODRIGUEZ, SAYING:

"We are talking about problems in the psychological field. That is why he can't see you (media) at the moment, because he can't be exposed to questions from several people at the same time. He tires immediately, loses a bit of control. He is not adapted to communicate with the world yet. He still cries easily, and he is now with his family."