Mountains of Peace: pictures from Pico Naiguatá, Venezuela.

I never thought that inner peace was found at places, like flying butterflies you're suppose to catch. But, wondering about how I feel when I'm hiking made me feel like this.

It's like, getting up there, with the amount of situations involved in it, means reaching peace. Or something very similar to this.

But since I have both wander -always- and wonder -a lot-, I'm sure the company of mountains and the heavenly landscaping accompanied with pure oxygen, reflexion and meditation has cured me all long.

When you're into the mountains, without any mobile connection, pausing the routine, having a break from the ordinary, distracted and focused into your next step and just connected to your most basic needs, you realize how little you are, how minor your problems seem. You get the idea, that you need to fight back getting tired or hungry to get any wonderful reward. The idea that hardships are expected, but also rising up against them.

When you're out there, you're biggest problems might be setting up your tent in the best place or how to go to the bathroom far apart without anyone sniffing around or maybe suffering through a damp cold night. But it always pays off, cause' you're most of the time, sinked into a wonderful place.

Escapism is glory and that is why it is so addictive. It takes you places, mind places. It teaches how to live. It makes you a better human being. It makes you humble cause' in the mountains you don't get to care about lux, you don't even get to be selfish, cause' you always need to team up, you always need to share. Your team, your group is you and the team carries the same problems and should all be aware of one another.

Laziness may cost you losing the best breaking-dawn you would ever or being late to hit the trail, this means arriving at a cold night, not warming up the tents, and so on.

Everything that is involved in hiking or trekking will make you an altruist. It's about living, resilience, breathing, eating, laughing, joking, loving, holding onto each other...the purest and most important things in life: your real and immediate needs.

Into the mountains, there's only place for support. Your team is your family.

You cannot help to rapidly connect to your buddies, and that's because you get to deal with them in different situations involving personal matters. You get to laugh for the most silly things, you will ask for toilet paper, you will need to tell everyone to wait cause' you need to pee, etc...this will cause funny situations. Also, co-living might take the worst out of you, sometimes but, also the best. In these cases, tolerance will be there and you won't have a choice, you'll have to take it. This is made by the dependency on each other and you will always thank that connection.

Today, I'm wondering how nice it would be to be there cause' I'm needing a good amount of that. There, into nature and into the glorious mountaineering trails.

The trail is your life: where you should go on and never stop. You might get hurt, you may be fast or slow, but the only important thing is consistency. To get there, safe. The trail will need a lot of hard work and you will walk it with you feet and hands, carrying a heavy back, with the things you decided to carry, the stuff you think you really need.

At camp base, you will need to suck it up and even though you're tired as hell, you gotta set it all up. Your tent, your backpack, your kitchen, etc. You gotta make a plan for the evening or not, but gotta make a plan for the morning if you don't want to lose heavenly skies or fall asleep. You gotta be aware of where you are, what you are supposed to do and make the best out of the experience.

Mountains will give you discipline, cause' you will know the setting sun won't wait for you, and you gotta hurry if you haven't make it to camp, the moonlight will be your partner and it is usually not pretty to trail at night cause' the night is darker and colder.

The next morning, rested and new, you already know what to do, and you thank life for this. There's no other way.

Mountains will make you grateful.

No matter how hard the trail was, the amount of effort you've put on, you will thank: it always pays off.

I promise you, your reward will be priceless and unique, each time.

Mountains will make you value and cherish. Will give you energy. Will, certainly, make you stronger.

Tonight, I'm missing that state of mind: being so lost it would be impossible to care about problems, so calmed and relax you'd have to enjoy the cold air, the burning sunlight, the view. To feel so little because everything down there seems so playful and small. But, to feel so great with yourself for getting there, for achieving the peak. The fulfillment of being higher, literally, than anyone else.

Mountains will give you peace. They will make you feel like you could touch the sky.