In the wake of social disillusionment and utter contempt for peers, Velayas abandoned everything. "I went South in search of destiny, freedom, soul, God, or my demise. After a relentless trek through Latin America, South of the Orinoco, down the Amazon, descending the coast of Brazil, South of Corcovado, I found myself living on the streets of São Paulo. I went South 'til I ran out of money. I lived in the gutters as a vagabond reading classic poetry: Lord Byron, Keats and Poe. They were my fellow exiles. I consumed nothing but devoured verse, dreams, vision of pain, and became citizen of world. For nobody believed I was an American. For whom, sacrificing such comforts would live as I: wretched poor! And it was there I found my soul, my God, my destiny; there in the gutters!"