Welcome to the 229th weekly Medellin Guru Newsletter.
We Published 1 New Article in the Past Week
Burger Grill: A Burger Restaurant in Sabaneta With Good Burgers
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Burger Grill is a burger restaurant in Sabaneta near Parque Sabaneta and it has very good gourmet-style burgers that has been open since 2016.
A Medellin Guru reader recommended this restaurant to me a few years ago. So, I went to try it and found this restaurant have very good burgers and have eaten there many times and they offer delivery..
Burger Grill opened in 2016. It’s a burger restaurant in Sabaneta that is conveniently located about a block from Parque Sabaneta in Sabaneta. It’s a small restaurant but also does deliveries. Note, the above photos are courtesy of Burger Grill.
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6 Popular Articles From the
Medellin Guru Archives
Carnaval de Barranquilla 2022: Second Largest Carnival is Cancelled
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Carnaval de Barranquilla (Carnival of Barranquilla) in Colombia is the second largest carnival in the world will happen but large events are cancelled in 2022 due to the coronavirus pandemic.
I have been to Carnaval de Barranquilla twice in the past and it’s definitely worth going to. Don’t worry about getting messy, it’s part of the fun. And it’s a massive party worth experiencing at least once.
Unfortunately major events for Carnival in Barranquilla in 2022 are cancelled due to the coronavirus pandemic. So, it is not worth going.
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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 2022.
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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9 Best Italian Restaurants in Medellín – 2022 Update
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Italian food is popular in Medellín and we look at nine of the best Italian restaurants in Medellín and the Aburrá Valley that are very popular with good food, updated for 2022.
Several Medellin Guru readers have asked about the best Italian restaurants in Medellín. So, I have been on a quest to find the best Italian restaurants in Medellín. And I have tried over 30 Italian restaurants in the past eight years and many were with my Colombian wife.
Our list of the best Italian restaurants in Medellín and the Aburrá Valley was created with the help of my Colombian wife.
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Cuts of Beef: A Comprehensive Guide to Cuts of Beef in Colombia
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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.
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.
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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 Nine Months
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The popular Medellin Guru blog in Colombia has now been under attack for now over nine 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. You can subscribe to our premium content on Patreon for only $3 per month and gain access to 84 or our best articles.
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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 Saving Money in Medellín: 19 Tips to Save Money
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We provide a guide to saving money in Medellín. We provide 19 tips to save money that can help to reduce your cost of living in Medellín.
The low cost of living is an advantage of living in Medellín for foreigners. One of the benefits of being an expat living in Medellín is that there are many surprisingly cheap things in Medellín compared to the costs found in North America or Europe.
Since I have been living in Medellín for over eight years, I frequently get asked about the cost of living and how to save money. Also, Medellin Guru readers ask questions frequently about how to save money.
So, we provide a guide to saving money in Medellín with 19 tips to save money. These tips can help you reduce your cost of living. These money saving tips are based on my experience living over eight years in Medellín.
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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 34 months, a total of 626 visas have been successfully received by Medellin Guru readers:
In addition, this visa service renewed 58 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 626 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 225 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 35 months we helped over 1,235 clients.
Medellin Guru starting offering services in March 2019. Since that time with our partners we have helped over 1,235 clients with visas, insurance, expat consultations, apartment rentals, real estate services and Spanish classes and expat consultations.
In August, September, October and November and December 2021 we helped over 305 new clients. And since March 2019, we helped a total of over 1,235 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 450 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 86 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 675 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 20 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 156 weeks we updated a total of 2,311 articles. Here are 8 of the 20 updated articles from the past week:
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.
In our Medellín vs Costa Rica comparison, we comprehensively compare the two places in in 20 categories to see which is the better place to live in for expats.
The International Living retirement publication chose Mexico as the third best place in the world to retire in 2021 and ranked Colombia as 5.
We found that Medellín easily beats Mazatlán in our comparison of 20 categories by winning 16 categories including important categories like cost of living, climate, healthcare and safety.
If having a lower cost of living, better healthcare and having good public transportation were your most important categories, then Medellín would win for you.
And if having beaches, less pollution and less traffic are your most important categories, then Mazatlán would win for you.
The bottom line in our Medellín vs Mazatlán comparison is that the best place to live is the best place to live for you. Everyone has different priorities. The only way to know which place is the best for you is to spend time there.
This article was updated with current updates to several sections.
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Premium Content: Coronavirus Hospitalization in Colombia: Myth vs Reality
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We look at the coronavirus hospitalization rate in Colombia including the number of coronavirus cases hospitalized in Colombia and number of cases in the ICU and ICU occupancy.
Many Medellin Guru readers have asked about the coronavirus hospitalization rate in Colombia and if it is increasing, as the number of coronavirus cases increases in Colombia.
ICU occupancy in all of Colombia with ICUs occupied with COVID on January 26, 2022 was 64 percent according to INS. But there are other cases in the ICUs and some cities have high ICU occupancy.
This article was updated on January 28, 2021 with data for coronavirus hospitalization data for Colombia on January 26 and 27, 2022..
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Premium Content: Colombia Needs to Ramp up COVID-19 Vaccinations
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Colombia planned to vaccinate 35 million in Colombia for COVID-19 in 2021. To meet this goal, Colombia needed to ramp up COVID-19 vaccinations.
If Colombia wanted to vaccinate 35 million people this year, the country needed to ramp up the vaccination rate, which it is doing.
Vaccinations started on February 17 in Colombia. Colombia is a country with a population of about 50 million people. When the vaccinations started, Colombia planned to vaccinate some 35 million people in 2021.
As of January 24, Colombia had administered a total of 70,350,747 COVID-19 doses.
In 238 days from June 1 to January 24, Colombia administered 60,258,625 doses, which is an average of 253,188 doses per day in the 238 days from June 1 to January 24. So, the vaccination rate in Colombia started to increase in June through the end of the year.
This article was updated on January 27, 2022 with vaccination data for Colombia from January 24.
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31 Best Restaurants in Sabaneta, Colombia – 2022 Update
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We look at 31 of the best restaurants in Sabaneta, Colombia. Sabaneta is the smallest municipality in Colombia and is located south of Medellín and Envigado in the Aburrá Valley.
I have lived in Sabaneta for over three years and during this time have eaten at well over 100 restaurants in Sabaneta. The following is our list of the 31 best restaurants in Sabaneta, which is updated for 2022.
With my Colombian wife’s help, we both collaborated to select and order our list of the 31 best restaurants in Sabaneta:
This article was updated to add Burger Grill to our list
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Top Colombia Blogs: A Guide to the Top Colombia Blogs by Expats
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Colombia has a number of Colombia Blogs by expats, as the country continues to attract foreigners. So, we provide a guide to the top Colombia Blogs by foreigners updated for January 2022.
We look at a total of 27 Colombia Blogs comprehensively including the 6 top Colombia Blogs by expats in English that are still actively publishing, 3 Colombia Blogs in other languages and 18 Colombia Blogs that are no longer active (no longer publishing). Also, we identify 11 Colombia Blogs by expats that have been taken offline.
Only 3 of the active blogs in Colombia published new content in January 2022. Since the coronavirus pandemic started several expat blogs went inactive.
This article was updated February 1, 2022 to update published posts information for each blog and reorder list with updated Facebook followers.
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How to Obtain a Colombia Retirement Visa – 2022 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.
So in 2022, you need an income of only 3,000,000 pesos per month (which is only $764 USD at the exchange rate of 3,923 pesos to USD) to qualify for the Colombia retirement visa.
The visa agency we partnered with has helped 193 Medellin Guru readers obtain Colombia retirement visas including 9 in December 2021.
This article was updated again with the current retirement income requirement in USD for the Colombia retirement visa with the current exchange rate.
We are in the process of updating our visa articles for 2022.
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How to Obtain a Colombia Resident Visa – 2022 Update
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The Colombia resident visa is intended for foreigners who wish to live full-time in Colombia. We provide 2022 updates to the Colombia resident visa rules
Colombia’s resident visa is relatively easy to get with few documents needed.
The visa agency we partnered with has helped 34 Medellin Guru readers obtain resident visas and another 592 other visa client with other visas or passport renewals.
We are in the process of updating our visa articles for 2022.
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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 February 2:
- +15,110 new cases, down from 14,454 the prior day
- +230 reported deaths
- +62,321 COVID tests
Totals:
- 5,916,825 cases
- 69,971 active cases or 1.18 percent of total
In addition, the rolling average of daily coronavirus cases in Colombia has now notably dropped in 15 of the past 16 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.
We now only post a snapshot of Coronvirus stats daily for free on Medellin Guru. To see our full daily report you must must be a Patreon subscriber/member and view this on Patreon.
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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 12 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 12 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 12 percent!
This discount was popular with readers in past months so we brought it back until the end of Feburary.
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 12 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 February 2 to February 9
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 February 3 to February 9, 2022.
Also, OSLA International normally hosts virtual language exchange online each Wednesday.
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 February. 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
34 months ago we launched the Medellin Guru Events & Discussion Forum, which is very active with over 3,700 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 34 months, over 1,000 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 - over 1,100 posts
- Healthcare - over 1,000 posts
- Colombia News - 861 posts
- Travel in Colombia - 720 posts
- Things to See and Do - 518 posts
- Visas - 504 posts
- Restaurants - 446 posts
- Transportation - 304 posts
- Colombian Food - 268 posts
- Insurance - 258 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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