Walking with Stars by Rockstar Pilgrim

Joe

This is the Joe, that came from me...
This is the Joe, I want you to see...
This is the Joe, that sets me free....

so, I will walk with thee
and let it be...


I am sharing his blog with you, while he is somewhere in South-America with his blue backpack and his feet.

Follow him on his own website : www.rockstarpilgrim.com

Walking with Stars

Walking and walking and more walking. If I told you the precise distance that I have walked the past two and a half weeks, most of you will be shocked. It’s not a walk to the supermarket and back to the hostel, it’s exploring the entire city, the neighborhood and all surrounding areas.


Yesterday I decided to go to the park, I didn’t get on a bus but put one foot in front of the other. Using Google Maps, I calculated yesterday’s walking distance was 12km. The park was great btw.

So I sat there on the grass in the park. I listened to the sound of the river water crashing against the shores. I watched the people pass by and took a afternoon nap. I woke up and that’s when it hit me! The question I had been carrying around since the beginning of my trip in South America was: “Why am I walking so much?” And wow! I sure was walking. In Rio I averaged 14km each day. Why was I walking so much? There were many busses and even subways, yet I was urged to walk instead. Rio, Sao Paulo, Foz do Iguazu and now Buenos Aires. My feet knew it all! I sat on the grass and looked at the book in my hand. The book was given to me by Ella, a girl I was traveling with. I didn’t ask for the book, she found it on the hostel’s bookshelf and thought I might find it interesting. The book’s title was: ‘Trekking In The Patagonia Andes.’ And as I opened the book I knew why I was walking so much. I was preparing for a few great treks in the Andes Mountains. This was why I walked each day. At night I would feel my feet throbbing, getting stronger.

I had a look at the various trails in the book.

The Paine circuit



Monte Fitz Roy



and more to the North

I felt the excitement bubbling within me. I am going trekking in the Patagonia Andes! As I got up to walk all the way back to my hostel, I asked my Native American ancestors what I was going to do in the South of Argentina, just to make sure. And they replied: “You will fly where the white sky makes mountains cry. Tears of rock that turn to waters up high.” As I knew these words, for I didn’t really hear them. They were part of me, not outside of me. As these words hit my consciousness, waves of ecstasy flooded my mind. I am being led, I am on the right path. I couldn’t stop smiling and didn’t want to stop! I was free! And for the first time, I saw beauty everywhere I looked, even in the middle of the city. But the thing is that I didn’t look to the outside, I looked to the inside. Thus everything I saw was me! Words struggle to paint an accurate picture, but know that to see beauty, you must not look outside. It was magical!


So I have a few things to get done. I need to pack my bags correctly and leave behind the things that will be dead weight. I also need to walk to a camping store and look for some warm gloves.

Patagonia here I come! ‘Pata’ means ‘feet’ in spanish, and the name Patagonia came about when the white people came to the native lands and saw the big moccasins on the native’s feet and thought these people had giant feet. So they called them the Patagon monsters with giant feet.

Blessings and healthy lives for all!