Poincenot

Poincenot is the first campsite one encounters when going up the mountain from Chalten.
It is a free camp and it takes about 5 hours of an uphill battle to get to. I was up for the challenge and went for it with that bold ear to ear smile... which was only good for the first half hour. It wasnt long at all and my mouth was shut quiet for the remainder of the time.
For two hours I followed this sendero (dirt path), hoping they were misinformed about the 5 hours and secretly believing it was only going to be 2 hours... and that the camp was just right there, after that one big tree by that turn....
My secret hopes didnt materialize and instead , what happened was I just began to curse my way up the mountain, as a way to forget about the 40 lbs backpack that was on a mission to make my knees buckle.
I eventually made it to the camp. People from all around were all in awe of the place.
"Ohh, it is so beautiful", said one
"Yeah, it is amazing" said another
"I've never seen anything like it" replied a third person
My reaction was more in the lines of
"Get this mother f@#!~* backpack off of me !!!"