Welcome to the 223rd weekly Medellin Guru Newsletter.
Happy Holidays
We Published 1 New Article in the Past Week
How to Access Medellin Guru Blog When Under Attack
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The Medellin Guru site has been under attack by a massive DDoS attack so we sometimes block countries. We show how to access Medellin Guru when under attack.
Many readers ask when they received an error how to access the site.
The attacks started with a DDoS attack: on April 24. And the Medellin Guru site was attacked by a denial of service attack which shut the site down briefly in the afternoon on April 24.
All of this is a malicious attempt to shut down the Medellin Guru website. We are now battling daily to try to keep the website up and running and need the help of readers.
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5 Popular Articles From the
Medellin Guru Archives
Alumbrados Sabaneta 2021: Photos of Christmas Lights in Sabaneta
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Alumbrados Sabaneta 2021 – Sabaneta, the smallest municipality in Colombia located south of Medellín, officially turned on its Christmas lights on November 27.
Alumbrados Sabaneta in 2021 is considered a festival of brightness and light to be enjoyed by the inhabitants and visitors of Sabaneta from November 27, 2021 to the second week in January 2022.
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Colombia Holidays: A Guide to the Many Festivos in Colombia
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Colombia has more public holidays than in the U.S. or countries in Europe. Colombia currently has 18 public holidays and 12 of these are Catholic holidays. Furthermore, Colombia holidays are known as festivos. We provide a guide to the 18 holidays in Colombia in 2021.
Reportedly only two countries in the world have more public holidays than Colombia – Sri Lanka and India – according to WorldAtlas.
Once you have lived in Colombia for a while you get used to there being a lot of holidays each year in Colombia. In addition, many readers of the Medellin Guru website have asked for details about the Colombia holidays.
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12 Popular Colombian Soups to Try When You Visit Colombia
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If you are visiting Colombia don’t forget to try traditional Colombian soups. We look at 12 popular Colombian soups you should try while in Colombia.
Colombians seem to love their soups, as much as they love their rice. If you are visiting Colombia, get ready to make soup a regular part of your diet.
Colombia has some delicious soups and we look at 12 of the most popular Colombian soups in this article.
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12 Best Steakhouses in Medellín With Good Steaks – 2021 Update
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Steaks are popular in Medellín and we look at 12 of the best steakhouses in Medellín and the Aburrá Valley with very good steaks, updated for 2021. All these steakhouses are good places to go on special occasions.
In the United States, we’d call these places steakhouses, but here in Colombia and South America they are known as a parillas, restaurants where grilled meats are served. All these restaurants specialize in steaks but they all have some other things on the menu.
Here is our ranking of the 12 best steakhouses in the Medellín and the Aburrá Valley updated for 2021, which includes steakhouses in Medellín and the nearby municipalities of Envigado and Sabaneta. My Colombia wife collaborated to select these 12 best steakhouses.
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Colombia Visa FAQ: Frequently Asked Questions About Colombia Visas
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Medellin Guru has received thousands of questions about Colombia Visas. So, we prepared a Colombia Visa FAQ: Frequently Asked Questions About Colombia Visas.
The majority of the visa questions we get asked are answered in our visa articles. So, we recommend reading our articles on Medellin Guru before asking questions.
Also the visa agency we partnered with can answer visa questions. It is easy to contact Expatgroup, the visa agency we partnered with.
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Update on Medellin Guru Under Attack
Medellin Guru Blog Under Attack for Over Seven Months
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The popular Medellin Guru blog in Colombia has now been under attack for well over seven months in a row with millions of DDoS attacks, SPAM, fake comments and fake emails.
The attacks started with a DDoS attack: on April 24. And the Medellin Guru site was attacked by a denial of service attack which shut the site down briefly in the afternoon.
In a recent week we were hit by 230,690 DDoS threats blocked by DDoS protection for for a period of a week as of September 1,
The attack of fake emails has increased so we have a new policy. If you are not a Patreon premium content subscriber, we will not answer your question.
Also, we turned off new comments on the Medellin Guru website due to now receiving over 200 Spam message a day. If you want to comment on our articles you can comment on our article posts on our Medellin Guru Facebook Group. and we will respond to comments on Facebook
In addition, the attacks have intensified heavily in the past the past several weeks.
Due to attacks intensifying the past few weeks, we sometimes had to turn of access to Medellin Guru from the U.S., Canada or the UK where the majority of attacks are coming from. This is temporary and will be turned back on when attacks drop and is normally in the afternoon or evening.
When we turn off access you will see a Security Error Message. But you can still access Medellin Guru from other countries such as Mexico. using a VPN.
With attacks increasing we really need the help of readers. We would like to bring in a resource to help.
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Sneak Peek to Medellin Guru's
Premium Content
We unlocked one of our premium content Medellin Guru. So, readers you can access this article today without subscribing.
We have a total of 84 premium content articles like this one looking at how to overcome the fiador requirement in Colombia.
Subscribe to Medellin Guru's premium content for as little as $3 per month.
Guide to Choosing a City in Colombia to Live in Colombia
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We provide a guide to choosing a city in Colombia to live for foreigners looking to live in Colombia. We look at which cities win or lose in 13 different categories.
IForeigners who move to Colombia do this for a variety of reasons, a lower cost of living, a beach lifestyle, a mountain lifestyle, better climate, retirement, love and more.
Medellín has been described by a number of publications including U.S. News, Huffington Post and CNN Money as a top foreign retirement location. Also, Medellín has been touted for many years as a top foreign retirement location by the foreign retirement publications. And Medellín is a beautiful city in a valley surrounded by mountains.
However, Medellín is not the only city in Colombia with foreigners. There are many foreigners living in other cities and smaller pueblos throughout Colombia.
It helps if you prioritize your requirements. Is cost of living important to you? Is healthcare important? Do you want a beach lifestyle? Do you want to live in a small town?
The bottom line is no city or town if perfect. Each has positives and negatives. The best place to live is the best place to live for you. Everyone has different priorities. The only way to know which city is the best for you is to spend time there.
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Medellin Guru's
Visa Services for Expats
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The Medellin Guru visa services was launched in March 2019. And in 33 months, a total of 513 visas have been successfully received by Medellin Guru readers:
In addition, this visa service renewed 57 American passports in Bogotá and provided visa stamping services to 10 clients. In addition, 28 clients extended tourist visas using this visa service.
So, in total we had 608 clients of the Medellin Guru visa service in 32 months, which is an average of 18 clients per month.
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Medellin Guru's
Insurance Services for Expats
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Many Medellin Guru readers have asked about health insurance and other types of insurance. So, we partnered to offer Colombian insurance services to readers, which has now helped over 210 Medellin Guru readers obtain insurance in Colombia.
Features of this Colombian insurance service include:
- Bilingual – English and Spanish.
- Email quotes.
- Free consultations.
- Offers health insurance, travel insurance, auto insurance, homeowners’ insurance, life insurance.
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Update on Medellin Guru's
Services for Expats
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Moving to a city in a foreign country is complicated. Medellin Guru offers services for expats in Colombia. In 33 months we helped over 1,040 clients.
Medellin Guru starting offering services in March 2019. Since that time with our partners we have helped over 1,140 clients with visas, insurance, expat consultations, apartment rentals, real estate services and Spanish classes and expat consultations.
We helped over 115 new clients in December, January and February 2021! In August, September, October and November 2021 we helped over 180 new clients. And since March 2019, we helped a total of over 1,140 Clients.
We partnered to offer visa, health insurance, real estate, furnished rentals and Spanish school services to foreigners to help with relocation:
Our partnerships are affiliate relationships (like the Amazon affiliate program).
If you use our partner services, Medellin Guru receives a small commission and you support the website. This is at no additional cost to you. The price remains the same, whether you use a button or affiliate link for these services on this website or not.
In addition, we offer a popular Expat Consultation Service to answer all your questions about visas, renting apartments, neighborhoods, health insurance, buying property starting a business and many other topics. We have done over 390 Expat Consultation calls or in-person meetings in about two years.
We want to thank our partners and clients and subscribers! We now have a total of over 2,000 clients and paying subscribers.
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Subscribe to Medellin Guru's
Premium Content
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Medellin Guru uses a partial subscription model with premium content locked for paying subscribers. Starting in January 2020, Medellin Guru starting moving to a partial subscription model.
We already published 84 premium content articles on Patreon in FULL. That means about 12 percent of the best content on Medellin Guru is premium content, which is the most comprehensive series of articles about moving to Colombia available.
Over the next three months, we plan that about 15 percent of the over 670 articles on Medellin Guru will be locked for Patreon subscribers and available on Patreon.
By asking for help from our readers to remain ad free, we already have over 920 paying subscribers (patrons). Thanks everyone!
Popular Premium Articles About Visiting and Moving to Colombia
Renting Unfurnished Apartments and Casas (Houses)
Buying, Selling and Investing in Real Estate
Choosing a Neighborhood in Medellín
Choosing a City in Colombia to Live In
Choosing a Foreign Retirement Location and Comparing Cities
- Why Expats Move to Medellín From Other Countries in Latin America
- 12 Reasons Why Medellín is a Top Foreign Retirement Location
- Why the Retirement Publications Get Medellín and Colombia Wrong
- Medellín vs Cuenca: Which is the Better City to Live In?
- Medellin vs Panama City, Which is the Better City to Live in?
- Medellin vs Costa Rica, Which is the Better Place to Live?
- Medellin vs Belize, Which is the Better Place to Live?
- Medellín vs Algarve: Which is the Better Place to Live?
- Medellín vs Chiang Mai, Thailand: Which is the Better City to Live In?
- Medellín vs Lima Peru: Which is the Better City to Live in?
- Medellín vs Puerto Vallarta, Mexico: Which is the Better Place to Live?
- Medellín vs Mexico City: Which is the Better City to Live In?
- Medellin vs Mazatlán, Mexico: Which is the Better Place to Live?
- Medellín vs Rio de Janeiro: Which is the Better City to Live In?
- Medellín vs Fortaleza, Brazil: Which is the Better City to Live In?
- Medellín vs Buenos Aires, Argentina: Which is the Better Place to Live?
- Medellín vs Santiago, Chile: Which is the Better City to Live In?
- Medellín vs Valletta, Malta: Which is the Better Place to Live in?
We plan to publish any new premium locked articles and updated locked articles in full on the Patreon website. So, you can now think of Patreon as the new home for Medellin Guru’s premium content.
Subscribe now to Medellin Guru's premium content for as little as $3 per month.
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We Published Updates to 15 Articles
in the Past Week!
Medellin Guru is the only blog in Colombia that has a policy of not letting articles on our website become out-of-date.
Some articles have been updated multiple times, as things change constantly in Colombia. Things are now changing so fast due to coronavirus in Colombia.
We are trying our best to keep up and we continue to update more articles than ever before!
In the past 153 weeks we updated a total of 2,206 articles. Here are 6 of the 15 updated articles from the past week:
Premium Content: 17 Top Mistakes Tourists Make When Visiting Colombia
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Colombia is an up-and coming travel destination in the world with tourism increasing each year until the coronavirus pandemic hit. We look at 17 top mistakes tourists make when visiting Colombia.
If you are planning a trip to Colombia, congratulations, Colombia is travel destination growing in popularity for a very good reason with an amazing diversity of beaches on two coasts, mountains, the Amazon and much more.
in this article, we look at 17 top mistakes tourist make when visiting Colombia. Note, my Colombian wife helped create this list from what she and her friends have seen.
Planning a trip to Colombia can be daunting, especially if you don’t speak Spanish. We recommend trying not to fit too much into one trip, learn some Spanish and take some safety precautions. Follow our tips in the above article, and you will avoid the most common mistakes tourists make when visiting Colombia.
This article was updated with updates to sections and added one mistake.
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Premium Content: Medellín vs Mazatlán Mexico: Which is the Better Place to Live?
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Medellín vs Mazatlán, Mexico, which is really the better place to live? In our Medellín vs Mazatlán comparison, we comprehensively compare the two cities in 20 categories to see which is the better place to live in for expats.
International Living ranks Mexico is its third best foreign retirement location in 2021 and Colombia as its fourth best foreign retirement location.
But in our comparison of 20 categories, Medellín easy wins if you weigh the categories equally, with Medellín winning in 16 of 20 categories compared to Mazatlán only winning in three categories.
If having a lower cost of living, better climate and better healthcare are your most important categories, then Medellín would win for you.
And if having beaches, less pollution, less traffic and more English spoken are your most important categories, then Mazatlán would win for you.
This article was updated with current updates to several sections.
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Premium Content: Colombia Needs to Ramp up COVID-19 Vaccinations
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Colombia plans to vaccinate 35 million in Colombia for COVID-19 this year. To meet this goal, Colombia needs to ramp up COVID-19 vaccinations.
Several Medellin Guru readers have asked about the COVID-19 vaccination rate in Colombia. So, we look in detail in this article.
As of December 16, Colombia had administered a total of 62,027,119 COVID-19 doses, as seen in the following graphic from Instituto Nacional de Salud (INS).
In 199 days from June 1 to December 16, Colombia administered 51,934,997 doses, which is an average of 260,980 doses per day in the 199 days from June 1 to December 16.
So, the vaccination rate in Colombia starting in June to December has increased over the rate over the prior few months.
This article was updated with vaccination data for Colombia from December 16.
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How to Obtain a Colombia Retirement Visa – 2021 Update
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Colombia’s retirement visa is intended for retired persons receiving a retirement income. This retirement visa is relatively easy to get with a low-income requirement and only a few documents needed.
Medellín in particular in Colombia is gaining a reputation as a top foreign retirement location.
At the current exchange rate, 2,725,584 pesos per month (which is only $681 USD at the exchange rate of 4,000 pesos to USD) to qualify for a Colombia retirement visa.
The visa agency we partnered with has helped 184 Medellin Guru readers obtain Colombia retirement visas including 11 in November.
This article was updated again with the current retirement income requirement in USD for the Colombia retirement visa with the current exchange rate.
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How to Obtain a Colombia Investment Visa – 2021 Update
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The Colombia investment visas are intended for foreigners who make an investment in Colombia. We provide a 2021 update with recent visa changes. And these visas are relatively easy to get once you have made an investment in Colombia.
The visa agency we partnered with has helped 25 investment visas obtain resident visas including helping open businesses and buy real estate for lower prices than using lawyers..
This article was updated with current resident investment requirement in USD at the current exchange rate and updated client information
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Coronavirus in Colombia: Myth vs Reality – Current Status
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Coronavirus in Colombia: what is the current status in Colombia? We look at statistics and measures in Colombia to minimize the threat of COVID-19.
Daily Summary for December 22:
- +1,931 new cases
- +52 reported deaths
- +50,254 COVID-19 tests
Totals:
- 5,112,719 cases
- 12,806 active cases 0.25 percent of total
In addition, very notably the rolling average of daily coronavirus cases in Colombia has now dropped in 126 of the past 173 days in a row.
This very popular article was updated each day in the past week with current coronavirus case counts and locations in Colombia.
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Spanish Phrase of the Week
With Medellin Guru's partnership with the Spanish School OLSA International we now plan to include a Phrase of the Week in our weekly newsletter.
Medellin Guru
Needs Your Support!
Jeff the founder of Medellin Guru
Medellin Guru has existed now for nearly four years without advertising and is primarily the work of Jeff and his Colombian wife.
The founder Jeff with his Colombia wife and baby
Medellin Guru really needs the help of Readers this month, particularly after the continued DDoS attack, which required adding DDoS protection. It only costs as little as $3 per month to subscribe via Patreon and have access to everything.
Save 15 Percent on Annual Subscriptions to our Premium Content
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Medellin Guru now offers annual subscriptions on Patreon for access to our premium content. Save 15 percent compared to the regular monthly rate for a limited time.
If you are a current monthly subscriber to Medellin Guru, you can upgrade TODAY to annual and save 15 percent!
This discount was popular with readers in past months so we brought it back until the end of December.
You can choose to pay for Patreon on an annual basis instead of monthly. It’s a great way to show your support of Medellin Guru. And in return you’ll get a discount of 15 percent when you do.
In addition to reducing transaction fees, you’ll help us create quality content faster and reduce the chance your credit card declines in the future.
By asking for help from our readers to remain ad free, we already have over 920 paying subscribers (patrons). Thanks everyone!
It only costs as little as $3 per month to subscribe via Patreon and have access to everything.
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Support Medellin Guru!
Buy Medellin Guru a Coffee
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Readers you now can “ Buy Medellin Guru a Coffee” to support Medellin Guru. Medellin Guru needs the help of readers to remain ad free with no sponsors .
Many readers have asked for the ability to make a one-time donation instead of an ongoing Patreon subscription. So, we have a way for readers to make one-time donations.
You can buy just one coffee for only $3 USD (or you can buy more then one coffee, you can enter how many coffees at $3 USD each).
Medellin Guru has helped thousands of foreigners over the past 3.5 years. And we absolutely would hate to add advertising. Also, we would like to add staff to help with the growing site.
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See Our Weekly Medellin Events Calendar for December 23 to December 29
Medellín Events: Weekly Medellín Events Calendar with Top Events
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We provide a curated list of weekly Medellin events if you are looking for something fun to do in Medellín. Our popular weekly update covers events from December 23 to December 29, 2021..
Also, OSLA International normally hosts virtual language exchange online each Wednesday. In addition, the world-class Medellin Christmas lights are from December 3 to January 10. Also there is a national holiday on Christmas on December 25.
We decided to include in our calendar this week the regular weekly events that are canceled so readers will know which weekly events were canceled due to the coronavirus pandemic.
We may start to see some events being scheduled later in December. So, bookmark this page that is updated weekly so you don't miss any events.
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Medellin Guru Newsletter Sponsors
The weekly Medellin Guru newsletter now has sponsors. We currently have seven sponsors for our weekly newsletter:
- Darrell and Diana Reamer
- Mark
- Mike
- Anonymous
- Anonymous
- Anonymous
- Anonymous
If you are interested in becoming a sponsor, see our article about Medellin Guru on Patreon with our different membership levels.
Join the Medellin Guru Events & Discussion Forum
33 months ago we launched the Medellin Guru Events & Discussion Forum, which is very active with over 3,600 members.
This Facebook group is intended for the followers of Medellin Guru and other expats and readers interested in sharing experiences and ideas about living in Medellín and visiting Medellín and Colombia.
In the past 33 months, over 990 events have been posted in this group as well as over 3,600 other posts, which are categorized. The following are the most popular categories of posts:
- Healthcare - 969 posts
- Expat tips - 959 posts
- Colombia News - 861 posts
- Travel in Colombia - 564 posts
- Visas - 430 posts
- Things to See and Do - 400 posts
- Restaurants - 381 posts
- Transportation - 266 posts
- Insurance - 221 posts
In addition, this group is actively moderated with absolutely no real estate ads permitted unlike other Medellín Facebook groups.
Follow Medellin Guru on Social Media
Thanks for subscribing to our newsletter!
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We are always looking for feedback and we are happy to answer questions. So, if you have suggestions for articles or the website or have any questions, please reply to this email.
Best regards,
Jeff and the team at Medellin Guru
P.S. If you are a new subscriber you can see all the previous Medellin Guru newsletters here:
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See: Medellin Guru Newsletters
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