The Journal

Stories of becoming

Training, nutrition, Colombia and the 1% philosophy — editorial notes from the Phoenix Initiative.

Silhouette of a visitor seen from behind in a bright white-walled gallery, late afternoon light falling across a polished concrete floor.

Colombian Contemporary Art, Once You Get Past Botero

Salcedo, Muñoz, González, Morelos, Caycedo: the artists who made forms for absence, where to see their work, and the stone figures of Huila that came two thousand years earlier.

May 24, 20265 min read

A distant snow-capped Andean volcano catching the first pink light of dawn above layered ridges of blue morning haze.

Colombia & Surroundings

Nevado del Huila: The Volcano Behind the Warm Water

Colombia's highest volcano rises to 5,364 metres ninety kilometres from Rivera. Its glacier, its 2007 awakening, and an honest answer about what really heats the springs.

May 22, 20265 min read

Foundation

Regenerating 30 Hectares: Land Stewardship at Phoenix Oasis

Thirty hectares, six waterfalls, three freshwater springs and a thermal source: how the Phoenix project intends to steward its land in Huila — regeneration as a plan, not a slogan.

May 21, 20264 min read

Shafts of morning light cutting through fog between moss-covered trunks in an Andean cloud forest, ferns and hanging epiphytes in the foreground.

Colombia & Surroundings

The Cloud Forest Above the Valley, and Why It Matters

Above 1,800 metres the Andes comb water straight out of the passing clouds. How Colombia's cloud forests work, what lives in them, and why the valley below depends on them.

May 20, 20265 min read

Hands holding a woven basket full of ripe red and yellow coffee cherries, backlit by warm afternoon sun with coffee leaves blurred behind.

Colombia & Surroundings

Visiting a Working Coffee Farm Without Being a Nuisance

Huila's coffee comes from small family fincas, not plantations. The harvest calendar, the twelve hours of a cherry, and the unwritten etiquette nobody will correct you on.

May 18, 20266 min read

A two-lane road curving through the dry upper Magdalena valley at golden hour, with layered blue Andean ridges fading into the haze.

Colombia & Surroundings

Getting to Rivera from Bogotá: Every Route, Honestly Compared

Plane, bus or your own wheels: real durations, real costs and the parts nobody mentions, from El Dorado airport to the last 24 kilometres into Rivera, Huila.

May 16, 20265 min read

Training

Recovery IS Training: Sleep, Water, Rest and Deload Weeks

You do not get stronger during workouts — you get stronger recovering from them. Sleep, thermal water, active rest and deload weeks are training. Here is how to do them well.

May 15, 20265 min read

Close-up of hands holding thin lit candles during an evening Holy Week procession, whitewashed wall and clay roof tiles blurred behind.

Colombia & Surroundings

Holy Week in the Huila Towns: A Region That Slows Down

Candles, river fish and near-silent processions: how Semana Santa is actually observed in Timaná, Garzón and Neiva, and how to be present without being in the way.

May 14, 20265 min read

Misty layered green Andean ridges at dawn seen through backlit foliage, with a small bright tropical bird silhouetted on a mossy branch in the foreground.

Colombia & Surroundings

Huila for Birdwatchers, and What You Will Hear at Dawn

Colombia has more bird species than any other country. In Huila you can find condors, echolocating cave birds and a dawn chorus that arrives before you are ready.

May 12, 20265 min read