At the end of 3 days of walk and 2 nights of sleep, they reach the base camp.
The less prepared, the ones accustomed to Alpine greens pastures or the tourists give up. Those which remain, feel in their muscles the 2000 meters already climbed . They think of having achieved the hardest but the days which come will be more. They do not know it yet... 
A glacial circus, almost lunar surrounds them. The shade of Aconcagua slips slowly on the camp (*). All return inside the tents but outside the cold of the night is not bearable. Each one takes the rhythm of the camp. They will spend 3 days there to rest and be acclimatized. 
Snow falls during the night. The following day is a rest day and each one at the bottom of his tent kills the time which passes, slowly, trying to forget the wind which slams the tarpaulin. One fills frantically the pages of a log book, the other avoids finishing quickly the only book he has carried to not find himself alone with sinister thoughts. 
In this place where no more wound heals, there is worse than the physical suffering of the days of rise: there is this feeling of oppression, born from the minutes which appear hours, locked up in this prison of which wind and cold are the watchtowers, to smell each day more nauseous odors emanating from his body. Unless they are those of his neighbor. 
To avoid the symptoms of "the apunamiento" (headaches, nauseas, giddinesses...), they must drink, drink unceasingly: at least 3 liters per day and piss as much. To piss, they should slip on 2 indeed 3 thicknesses of clothing, to put their shoes on : minutes of effort and as much when they undress themselves. 
Then they piss in the tent, in bottle and go outside for the number two, they make in a plastic bag. They will have to transport their excrements. No waste must be abandoned on Aconcagua: even not these. Many is unaware of these scatologic details before leaving. Which become with the passing days, a throbbing concern, more difficult to support by those who have at the beginning a high opinion of themselves...(to be continued)
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