When Santiago finally reaches the pyramids, he finds no treasure. Instead, he is robbed again and, in the process, discovers from his robber that the treasure he is seeking is actually buried back in Spain, beneath the tree where he first had the dream. He returns home and finds it there. Coelho's point is not that the journey was a waste of time. It is the opposite. Santiago could not have found the treasure without making the journey. He would not have known where to look. More than that, he would not have been ready to receive it. The journey was not a detour to the destination. The journey was the transformation that made the destination possible. This is what Coelho means when he says the treasure was always with you: the purpose of the journey is not to arrive somewhere different. It is to become someone different. And then, from that new self, the things that were always available to you become visible.