2023 was a tough year of work and travel so when I landed back in Bogotá for two months at the end of the year I was wanting to rest. I caught up on editing all of the photos I took throughout the year and focused on training for strength. December and January were relatively tame with work and I was able to recharge my travel batteries while living a daily and weekly routine in Bogotá.
December is the best month to visit Bogotá because the skies are clear and there’s no rain (until about late February; then there’s always rain) and lots of Christmas festivities happen throughout the month. Dia de las velitas is the cutest — “little candles day” is really a night when families congregate to light little candles of different colors.
My friend Catalina also drove me to see Chirstmas lights in the various little pueblitos around Boyacá. Thanks for driving Cat (it was a lot of driving). For Christmas I spent dinner at a friend’s place. New Years I was happy to go to sleep early.
I climbed Nevado de Santa Isabel a 4,950 meter (16,240 feet) volcanco a few hours outside of Pereira, which had been on my todo list for a few years. Just a short overnight ascent from a comfy basecamp, you can see a few photos here. I didn’t train for this volcano like I did for Orizaba or Iztaccihuatl last year because I was focusing more on sleeping. I still managed it okay, a little less exuberantly than I would have otherwise. I’m still nursing an elbow injury from a scree fall on the way down as a memento.
I could have stayed another month in Bogotá, however I had decided that I should spend more time in Medellín – so that’s where I went instead.
