Medellin Guru Newsletter:December 29, 2021

Published: Wed, 12/29/21

Welcome to the 224th weekly Medellin Guru Newsletter.

Happy Holidays

We Published No New Article in the Past Week

5 Popular Articles From the

Medellin Guru Archives

Alumbrados Sabaneta 2021: Photos of Christmas Lights in Sabaneta

Alumbrados Sabaneta 2021 – Sabaneta, the smallest municipality in Colombia located south of Medellín, officially turned on its Christmas lights on November 27.

The Christmas lights display in Sabaneta in 2021 looks smaller than in 2019 but is still very nice. We also have photos from the 2020 Christmas lights in Sabaneta and the 2019 Christmas lights in Sabaneta.

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.

We provide a comprehensive guide to cuts of beef in Colombia. Colombian cuts of meat can be difficult for foreigners to understand so we provide a guide.

Several Medellin Guru readers asked about cuts of beef in Colombia. So, we researched and provide a comprehensive guide that matches over 40 cuts of beef in English with the Spanish equivalent in Colombia.

The butchers in Colombia typically won’t speak much English. So, you will need the Spanish names for the cuts of meat you want to order. Our guide should make it easier for foreigners buying meat in Colombia.

If you are visiting Colombia don’t forget to try Colombian desserts. We look at 17 must try Colombia desserts that are very popular in Colombia.

While you may have tried desserts from places like France and different parts of the U.S., you are probably less aquatinted with Latin American desserts, particularly Colombian desserts.

We previously looked at popular traditional Colombian dishes as well as popular Colombian street food options. We also looked at 30 exotic tropical fruits of Colombia.

We look at 11 of the best seafood restaurants in Medellín and nearby that are popular with good seafood including some Peruvian restaurants.

Be careful of using TripAdvisor, which can’t be trusted for restaurants in Colombia. TripAdvisor has many closed restaurants in its lists for Colombia

I have eaten at over 35 seafood restaurants in Medellín and nearby over the past several years. With my Colombian wife’s help, we both collaborated to select and order the following list of the 11 best seafood restaurants in Medellín and nearby..

Colombia began to require COVID-19 vaccinations for travel to Colombia starting on December 14 for those 18-years old or older..

The vaccinations must be done at least 14 days before entry into Colombia. For Colombian citizens and foreign residents that are vaccinated less than 14 days before their flight, they will need a PCR test with a negative result taken within 72 hours.

For tourists visiting Colombia, must have a completed vaccination record or at least one vaccination and a PCR test with a negative result taken within 72 hours.

There is a graphic in our article in Spanish from the Colombia Health Ministry that explains this.

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.

Update on Medellin Guru Under Attack

Medellin Guru Blog Under Attack for Over Seven Months

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.

Medellin Guru Needs Your Support - Buy Us a Coffee!

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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.

Overcoming the Fiador Requirement

Real estate agencies in Medellín and Colombia typically require a fiador (cosigner) for renting unfurnished apartments. But this fiador requirement can be overcome. I have successfully rented unfurnished apartments in Medellín for over eight years without a fiador or cosigner.

The fiador requirement is a common challenge to overcome when renting unfurnished apartments in Colombia. Almost all real estate agencies will have a fiador requirement. But this fiador requirement can be overcome in several ways including paying rent in advance, renting directly from an owner and providing a security deposit in the form of a CDT.

Also, the CDT security deposit now appears to be commonly used by real estate agencies for renters without fiadors. So, if you have sufficient funds for a CDT deposit, it can be relatively easy to rent an unfurnished apartment in Medellín and Colombia.

Subscribe to Medellin Guru on Patreon

Medellin Guru's

Visa Services for Expats

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.

NOTE: the visa agency we partnered with indicates that normal Colombian visas such as retirement visas, marriage visas, student visas, investment visas and resident visas are still being processed and approved online during the coronavirus pandemic in Colombia.

See ALL our VISA articles

Medellin Guru's

Insurance Services for Expats

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 215 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.

Also, Angela offers a service for signing up with SURA EPS insurance that is difficult for foreigners to do on their own.

Update on Medellin Guru's

Services for Expats

Moving to a city in a foreign country is complicated. Medellin Guru offers services for expats in Colombia. In 33 months we helped over 1,050 clients.

Medellin Guru starting offering services in March 2019. Since that time with our partners we have helped over 1,150 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 190 new clients. And since March 2019, we helped a total of over 1,150 Clients.

We partnered to offer visa, health insurance, real estate, furnished rentals and Spanish school services to foreigners to help with relocation:

Visa services with Expatgroup.co
Insurance services with Angela Berrio – including health, homeowners, car and life insurance as well as travel insurance
Sign up for SURA EPS insurance – a new service from Angela Berrio to help with signing up for SURA EPS
Real estate services with RE/MAX Coffee Realty
Spanish Classes from OLSA International

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 395 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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Premium Content

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

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.

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 154 weeks we updated a total of 2,221 articles. Here are 7 of the 15 updated articles from the past week:

Premium Content: Medellín vs Mexico City: Which is the Better Place to Live?

Medellín vs Mexico City, which is really the better place to live? In our Medellín vs Mexico comparison, we comprehensively compare the two cities in 19 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 19 categories, Medellín edges out Mexico City if you weigh the categories equally, with Medellín winning in 8 categories compared to Mexico City winning in 7 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 more restaurants and shopping options and better travel access are your most important categories, then Mexico City would win for you.

You must be a Medellin Guru Patreon subscriber to read this premium content.

This article was updated with current updates to several sections.

Premium Content: Medellín vs Pereira: Which is the Better Place to Live?

Medellín vs Pereira, which of these cities in Colombia is really the better place to live? In our Medellín vs Pereira comparison, we comprehensively compare the two cities in in 16 categories to see which is the better place to live in for expats.

Both are cities of eternal spring. In our comparison of 16 categories, Medellín easily beats Pereira if you weigh the categories equally, with Medellín winning in 10 categories compared to Pereira only winning in three categories.

If having better healthcare, more things to do, better public transportation and better flight access to North America are your most important categories, then Medellín would win for you.

And if a lower cost of living with less pollution and less traffic plus you prefer smaller cities are your most important categories, then Pereira would win for you.

You must be a Medellin Guru Patreon subscriber to read this premium content.

This article was updated with current updates to several sections.

Premium Content: Cartagena vs Santa Marta: Which is the Better City to Live in?

In our Cartagena vs Santa Marta comparison, we comprehensively compare these two beach cities in Colombia in 17 categories to see which is the better city to live in for expats.

In our unscientific and somewhat subjective Cartagena vs Santa Marta comparison of 17 categories, Cartagena easily wins if you equally weigh the categories.

If having more things to do, more restaurant and shopping options and better access to the U.S. were your most important categories, then Cartagena would win for you. And if avoiding traffic plus having better beaches are your most important categories, then Santa Marta would win for you.

And if avoiding traffic plus having better beaches are your most important categories, then Santa Marta would win for you.

You must be a Medellin Guru Patreon subscriber to read this premium content.

This article was updated with current updates to several sections.

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 2022.

This article was updated with the dates for the Colombia holidays in 2022.

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 $682 USD at the exchange rate of 3,994 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.

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

See all our popular Visa Articles

Coronavirus in Colombia: Myth vs Reality – Current Status

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 28:

+4,306 new cases
+35 reported deaths
+57,812 COVID-19 tests

Totals:

5,132,277 cases
20,885 active cases 0.41 percent of total

In addition, very notably the rolling average of daily coronavirus cases in Colombia has now dropped in 126 of the past 179 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.

See our updated article about COVID testing in Colombia

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.

For more information contact, info@medellinguru.com or OLSA International.

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.

Medellin Guru depends on reader support to continue this free newsletter and our extensive weekly updates. Subscribe to our premium content, upgrade to an annual subscription or chip in a few dollars to buy us a coffee!

Medellin Guru has a policy of not advertising and not having sponsored content, unlike other blogs.

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

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.

Support Medellin Guru!

Buy Medellin Guru a Coffee

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.

See Our Weekly Medellin Events Calendar for December 30 to January 5

Medellín Events: Weekly Medellín Events Calendar with Top Events

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 30 to January 5, 2021..

Due to the coronavirus pandemic many regular weekly Medellín events in the next week are canceled.

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 January 1.

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.

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 1,00 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:

Expat tips - 989 posts
Healthcare - 977 posts
Colombia News - 861 posts
Travel in Colombia - 590 posts
Visas - 439 posts
Things to See and Do - 410 posts
Restaurants - 390 posts
Transportation - 267 posts
Insurance - 225 posts

In addition, this group is actively moderated with absolutely no real estate ads permitted unlike other Medellín Facebook groups.

Join the Medellin Guru Events & Discussion Forum

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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:

See: Medellin Guru Newsletters

Medellin Guru Newsletter:December 29, 2021

Alumbrados Sabaneta 2021: Photos of Christmas Lights in Sabaneta

Cuts of Beef: A Comprehensive Guide to Cuts of Beef in Colombia

17 Popular Colombian Desserts You Must Try While in Colombia

11 Best Seafood Restaurants in Medellín – 2021 Update

Colombia Requires COVID-19 Vaccinations for Travel to Colombia

Colombia Visa FAQ: Frequently Asked Questions About Colombia Visas

Overcoming the Fiador Requirement

Colombia Holidays: A Guide to the Many Festivos in Colombia

How to Obtain a Colombia Retirement Visa – 2021 Update

How to Obtain a Colombia Investment Visa – 2021 Update