In the run-up to Christmas I’m learning a great deal about Colombian culture. Of course, at a time like this you see a great deal of things that seperate your own culture from another. Christmas traditions in Colombia range from the inspiring to the bizarre, and it’ll be interesting for me as I return back home for Christmas to compare what I’m seeing.
This return home also gives me the perfect time to reflect on our first year as the Colombia Travel Blog team, and look at all the things we’ve done, seen and written about. Today’s post is dedicated to this reflective mood and is the beginning of a week of posts that will look back at 2011 and forward to 2012. So here it is: our year in pictures.
January
In January JL and Marcela were travelling around Colombia collecting information for the blog. Paul was plotting his trip to Colombia, while Ryan took a trip to Peru.
February
In February Paul and Ryan both arrived to Colombia. Paul travelled with Marcela and JL around Colombia which, as you’ll see from the pictures, was hard work.
March
March saw Paul finally get to settle into his new home in Bogota, and was also a massive month for See Colombia Travel as JL decided once and for all to leave Buenos Aires and move to Colombia.
April
In April Holy Week took place, which meant a week off work and trip to Taganga for Paul and Ryan.
May
In May Paul’s parents arrived to Colombia to enjoy a trip around. They visited Cocora Valley, Cartagena, Tayrona and Bogota.
June
In June, while the rest of us worked hard in Bogota, Ryan got to take a trip to Tayrona National Park. Lucky guy.
July
Ryan may have come back with a tan, but JL and Marcela upped his good news by releasing a video of their proposal, which was subsequently viralized and gave us some very good contacts (more on that in 2012)…
August
August saw the gang head to Medellin for the Feria de Las Flores (and some sun). We also managed to sneak in a trip to Santa Fe de Antioquia.
September
In September Ryan travelled to Cartagena while, once again, the rest of us stayed back in Bogota.
October
October saw two of Paul and Ryan’s good friends getting married, which also gave them the chance to go to their first Colombian wedding. They found out this means a lot of whisky and a lot of dancing.
November
Without a doubt November’s biggest news was the arrival of Maria del Mar, the tiny baby of Marcela and JL.
December
December has allowed Paul and Maria del Mar to experience their first Christmas’ in Colombia which for Paul has meant a couple of visits to the infamous Andres Carne de Res. Ryan and friends visited Villa de Leyva for the Noche de Las Velitas and Marcela and JL continue to try and squeeze 2 hour naps into their schedules.
So that’s about it! It’s been a busy but incredible year, but we’ll do more wrapping up later this week during the run-up to Christmas.
The Colombia Travel Blog team
