Welcome to the 232nd weekly Medellin Guru Newsletter.
We Published 1 New Article in the Past Week
OLSA International – Opened Second Spanish School in Medellin
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OLSA International is a popular Spanish school in Medellín and OLSA opened second location in Medellín recently.
OLSA’s first school location is in the Estadio/Laureles neighborhood that opened seven years ago. And it’s newest location is in the Manila/El Poblado neighborhood.
OLSA International is an actual educational facility, who´s director, Shane Keeley (author of this article), has been in education for more than 25 years, both in the United States and internationally.
Full disclosure, OLSA is a partner and sponsor of Medellin Guru.
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6 Popular Articles From the
Medellin Guru Archives
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.
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.
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Ciudad Perdida: A Guide to Hiking to the Lost City in Colombia
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Ciudad Perdida is the site of an ancient city in Colombia that is older than Machu Picchu in Peru. It’s a challenging but rewarding hike with ancient ruins, jungle, river crossings, native villages, waterfalls and much more. Ciudad Perdia is also one of the largest pre-Columbian towns discovered in the Americas.
Ciudad Perdida is located deep in the Sierra Nevada coastal mountains near Santa Marta. And it remains accessible only on foot in what is one of Colombia’s most exciting and breathtaking hikes. This is definitely one of the most rewarding and also challenging hikes I have been on.
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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. The soups are in alphabetical order.
The Colombian desserts in this article are some of the most popular desserts that you are likely to encounter in Colombia.
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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.
Out 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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Día de Amor y Amistad: Celebrate Colombia’s Valentine’s Day
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Día de Amor y Amistad (Day of Love and Friendship) is celebrated the third Saturday of September every year in Colombia. This is essentially the Valentine’s Day of Colombia.
This is a traditional celebration in Colombia in which lovers, husbands and wives, couples and friends express their love and affection.
In Colombia, normally for weeks before this day in September you will start to see hearts adorn restaurants, shops and bars.
In 2022, Día de Amor y Amistad in Colombia is on Saturday, September 17.
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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 10 Months
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The popular Medellin Guru blog in Colombia has now been under attack for now over 10 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.
We even had to upgrade our website to handle the hackers better.
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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We even had to upgrade our website to a cloud platform at our host to handle the hackers better.
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 86 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.
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.
When I first visited Colombia as a tourist in 2006, I never imagined I would be living in Colombia. Over the past several years I have seen several mistakes tourists make when visiting Colombia. Also, several Medellin Guru readers asked about common mistakes that tourists make.
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. And this list is in no particular order.
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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 35 months, a total of 544 visas have been successfully received by Medellin Guru readers:
In addition, this visa service renewed 61 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 644 clients of the Medellin Guru visa service in 35 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 230 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 1,300 clients.
Medellin Guru starting offering services in March 2019. Since that time with our partners we have helped over 1,290 clients with visas, insurance, expat consultations, apartment rentals, real estate services and Spanish classes and expat consultations.
In August, September, October and November, December, January and beginning of February we helped over 370 new clients. And since March 2019, we helped a total of over 1,300 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 470 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 14 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 159 weeks we updated a total of 2,357 articles. Here are 5 of the14 updated articles from the past week:
Premium Content: Medellín vs Pereira: Which is the Better City to Live in?
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Medellín vs Pereira, which of these cities in Colombia is really the better place to live? Both have similar climates.
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.
In our comparison, Medellín easily beats Pereira by winning in 10 of our 16 categories. In comparison, Pereira only wins in 3 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.
If having a better climate, better healthcare, better public transportation and proximity to the U.S. 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.
The bottom line in our Medellín vs Pereira 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: 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 February 20, 2022, Colombia had administered a total of 78,193,263 COVID-19 doses.
In 267 days from June 1 to February 20, Colombia administered administered 65,076,141 doses, which is an average of 243,731 doses per day. So, the vaccination rate in Colombia started to increase in June through early this year.
This article was updated on February 6, 2022 with vaccination data for Colombia from February 3.
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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 $762 USD at the exchange rate of 3,936 pesos to USD) to qualify for the visa
The visa agency we partnered with has helped 199 Medellin Guru readers obtain Colombia retirement visas including 6 in January 2022.
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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Visa Agencies: 2022 Guide to Visa Agencies in Medellín and Colombia
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There are several visa agencies and law firms in Medellín and other cities in Colombia that offer visa services – helping foreigners obtain Colombian visas.
We provide a guide to the visa agencies and law firms offering visa services in Medellín and Colombia that is updated for 2022.
In Colombia, a lawyer is not really needed for most visa services. The application forms are relatively straightforward and the process and documents required are pretty well-defined.
So, several visa agencies in Colombia exist that specialize in providing visa services at lower costs than the law firms in Colombia.
The visa agency we partnered with has helped 626 Medellin Guru readers successfully obtain Colombian visas and U.S. 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.
Coronavirus in Colombia: We look at current Coronavirus statistics in Colombia including daily cases, recoveries, deaths and COVID tests.
Daily Summary for February 26:
- +2,078 new cases, down from 2,158 the prior day
- +97 reported deaths
- +17,689 COVID tests
Totals:
- 6,060,793 cases
- 14,513 active cases or 0.24 percent of total
In addition, the rolling 7-day average of new daily cases has dropped notably dropped in 38 of the past 39 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. Note that OLSA is a
sponsor of Medellin Guru.
Medellin Guru
Needs Your Support!
Jeff the founder of Medellin Guru
Medellin Guru has existed now for over five 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 24 to March 2
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 24 to March 2, 2022.
Also, OSLA International now hosts a board game language exchange event each Wednesday at its new El Poblado location.
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 eigh sponsors for our weekly newsletter:
- OLSA International
- 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
35 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 35 months, over 1,100 events have been posted in this group as well as over 3,700 other posts, which are categorized. The following are the most popular categories of posts:
- Expat tips - over 1,300 posts
- Healthcare - over 1,000 posts
- Colombia News - 861 posts
- Travel in Colombia - 678 posts
- Things to See and Do - 587 posts
- Visas - 545 posts
- Restaurants - 483 posts
- Transportation - 338 posts
- Colombian Food - 297 posts
- Insurance - 282 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
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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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