Traverse 12 | Page 24

darker and darker signifying time for the stars to be lit one by one. In the middle of nowhere, there is no light pollution and the carpet of stars has a whole different level of beauty. During those weeks, the feeling of freedom I felt could only be com- pared to reaching the summit of Everest. With all the right gear, food and water, I could go exploring each track, stopping for a night or two was not a problem, even in the remotest of areas. I was living with the sun, eating and drinking whenever I wanted. Time had no impact on my days, the feeling was quite abstract. Knowing I had to go south with- out any real itinerary, again, I must confess that sometimes this got me emotional. I would scream, dance, cry, sing as loud as I wanted. No one was there to judge me, and even if there was it would have not changed anything of my behavior! It took about two months to reach the most extreme southern part of the continent. During this period, I also had the opportunity to discover the real jewels of Patagonia. The best places I encountered were the ones with no name, the ones I will never be able to locate on a map again, I simply had no idea where I was. TRAVERSE 24