This may just be the latest announcement post we have ever done, but you know the spiel: Hacker Beach #8 is happening as always, this coming January, for however long you want to join! Same procedure as every year, James.

After not having returned to the Americas on our normal next-continent-over schedule, we’re finally back in the EST timezone and on a coast of the Caribbean Sea.

Everyone, please feel cordially invited to meet your fellow hackers (and associated life-forms) in Palomino, Colombia, this coming month!

Colombia is an amazing country, and so incredibly diverse that attempting to summarize it in one sentence is almost impossible. Hence, we’ll just use the Colombian tourism office’s official explanation: “Colombia, the only risk is wanting to stay”. How inviting is that?

We’re still collecting detailed information on the wiki page for episode 8, but here are some choice bits upfront:

• The closest airport (and city) is Santa Marta (SMR). Only a few local airlines go there, so you may be better off booking a connection to SMR separately from your ticket to a major city in Colombia (e.g. Bogotá, Cali, or Medellín).
• It’ll be easily possible to enjoy your time on less than 30 USD/day (one of our unwritten rules). In fact, you could even get a hammock for like 3 USD/night.
• After a bunch of scuba diving in recent years, this time we can surf again.
• There’s not just a beach, but a massive natural reserve with tall mountains directly next to where we are: the Sierra Nevada de Santa Marta.
• Why not look at some photos to get you in the right mood for Palomino?

As always, the public conversation is happening in #hackerbeach on Freenode IRC. And you can also ask questions on the fediverse or Twitter, in case you’re interested.

See you in Colombia!