I recently got to interview two of my adventurers, Gregg Treinish and Deia Schlosberg. Early last year they returned from a two year trek where they hiked the entire length of the Andes. Impressive. Plus they’re both fabulous people.

Here’s part of the interview, you can check the rest out at Matador Life.

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AB: You decide to take off from your regular lives and trek the Andes. What goes through your head and heart before embarking on such an adventure?

Gregg: To me, the unknown has always been incredibly exciting. Not having any clue what lay around the next corner captures this special place inside my head that is very deeply attached to a visceral feeling of being alive, of doing something worthwhile.

Oftentimes, I find myself saying that had I known what was in store I might not have gone; this is certainly the case with the Andes as the challenges were far greater than either of us anticipated. Before the journey, there was a lot of fear, which my mind somehow translates to excitement.

I think that it would only be fair to say that there was a high level of disillusionment as well. While I obviously thought about what it was going to be like, I somehow let myself believe that it was going to be fun day in and day out, this despite a cognitive recognition that it wasn’t going to be fun in many cases.

I think that in order to follow through with something that you know could very well be your demise requires a certain level of denial.

Check out the rest of the interview here. And you can listen to a podcast with Gregg and Deia reading the first installment of their story in Wend Magazine here.