Is Colombia starting to win the coronavirus battle? For over 2 months the rolling average of daily coronavirus cases has dropped in Colombia as vaccinations increase.
Colombia now looks to be on track for vaccinating 35 million Colombians in 2021 and is averaging vaccinating at a rate of up to 1 million COVID-19 vaccine doses every four to five days.
In addition, the rate of new coronavirus deaths has dropped dramatically, as new cases drop. The peak was over 600 reported coronavirus deaths per day but this has new dropped to less than 100 reported coronavirus deaths per day over the past several days.
So, is Colombia starting to win the coronavirus battle? We look at this in more detail.
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The popular Medellin Guru blog in Colombia has now been under attack four 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 subscriber or a subscriber to our free email,we will not answer your questionbut will send an email challenge asking for proof you are a real person before answering.
Also, we suspect a company behind the attacks that is a competitor to one of our partners. Readers if you know something about this please contact us.
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 readers asked about cuts of beef in Colombia, as it can be difficult for foreigners to understand the different cuts in Colombia. So, we provide a comprehensive guide to cuts of beef in Colombia that maps to U.S. cuts
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.
We continue to receive many questions about the best of Medellín from readers. So, we published this ultimate guide to the best of Medellín – which includes over 260 of the best things to see and do and many of the best restaurants in several categories.
Readers continue to ask about Pablo Escobar’s grave site in Medellín, which has unfortunately become a tourist attraction in Medellín due to the popular Narcos series and the notoriety of Pablo Escobar.
If you do visit Pablo Escobar’s grave, show some respect for the victims and the Colombian people. Keep in mind that Escobar is long dead but is still a sensitive subject. And that Medellín is a completely changed place from the time of Escobar, who died over 25 years ago.
Pablo Escobar Tours exist because of a morbid curiosity We feel that the history is still too recent and to raw in many individuals’ minds for these tours. So we recommend 7 alternatives to a Pablo Escobar Tour.
El Poblado is the most popular neighborhood for foreigners living in Medellín or visiting, we look at the pros and cons of El Poblado for expats living in or visiting El Poblado (5 pros and 6 cons).
El Poblado is the most popular neighborhood for foreigners living in or visiting Medellín. In addition, El Poblado is considered the most upscale neighborhood in the city of Medellín.
El Poblado is the most upscale neighborhood in Medellín. And some expats even have told me they almost forget they are in Colombia when in this part of town.
However, many expats in Medellín have chosen to live in other neighborhoods in the city due to the downsides of El Poblado, particularly the higher costs and hills of El Poblado.
Everybody has their own unique neighborhood requirements and tastes. There isn’t a “one size fits all” answer. Best to spend time in several neighborhoods to find the one that is right for you.
The Medellin Guru visa services was launched in March 2019. And in 29 months, a total of 432 visas have been successfully received by Medellin Guru readers:
In addition, this visa service renewed 55 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 525 clients of the Medellin Guru visa service in 28 months, which is an average of 18 clients per month.
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 150 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.
Moving to a city in a foreign country is complicated. Medellin Guru offers services for expats in Colombia. In 29 months we helped over 1,035 clients.
Medellin Guru starting offering services in March 2019. Since that time with our partners we have helped over 1,035 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! In March, April and May 2021 we helped over 110 new clients. And since March 2019, we helped over 1,035 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 315 Expat Consultation calls or in-person meetings in less than two years.
We want to thank our partners and clients and subscribers! We now have a total of over 1,900 clients and paying subscribers.
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 910 paying subscribers (patrons). Thanks everyone!
Popular Premium Articles About Visiting and Moving to Colombia
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 nowto Medellin Guru's premium content for as little as $3 per month.
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 134 weeks we updated a total of 1,958 articles. Here are 10 of the 23 updated articles from the past week:
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.
In Colombia, normally for weeks before this day in September you will start to see hearts adorn restaurants, shops and bars.
In 2021, Día de Amor y Amistad in Colombia is on Saturday, September 18.
This article was updated to add the 2021 date for Día de Amor y Amistad.
Medellín vs Bogotá, which of these two cities in Colombia is the better city to live in for expats?
In our Medellín vs Bogotá comparison, we comprehensively compare the two largest cities in Colombia in 18 categories to see which is the better city to live in for expats.
In our comparison of 18 categories Medellín wins over Bogotá with a win in 8 of 18 categories, compared to Bogotá winning in 5.
If cost of living, having a springtime climate and having better public transportation were your most important categories, then Medellín would win for you.
If job availability, having more restaurants and nightlife, having more things to do and ease of access to other countries are your most important categories, then Bogotá would win for you.
The bottom line in our Medellín vs Bogotá comparison is that the best place to live is the best place to live for you. Everyone has different priorities.
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This article was updated with updates to several sections and added protests category.
Medellín vs Santa Marta, which of these cities in Colombia is really the better place to live?
In our Medellín vs Santa Marta 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 wins by winning in 12 of 16 categories. Santa Marta only wins in two categories.
If having a better climate, better healthcare, having good public transportation and better flight access to North America are your most important categories, then Medellín would win for you.
IAnd if a lower cost of living with less traffic plus you prefer smaller cities on the coast with a warmer climate are your most important categories, then Santa Marta would win for you.
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This article was updated with current cost of living information and updated other categories with current information where possible.
Medellín vs Santiago, Chile, which is really the better place to live?
In our Medellín vs Santiago comparison, we comprehensively compare the two cities in 21 categories to see which is the better place to live in for expats.
In our comparison, Medellín edges out Santiago by winning in 9 of 21 categories. Santiago wins in 8 categories.
If having a better climate, better healthcare, a lower cost of living, proximity to the U.S. and less of a seismic risk are your most important categories, then Medellín would win for you.
And if having more job opportunities, less crime, higher Internet speeds, more things to do and a bigger restaurant selection, then Santiago would win for you.
You must be a Medellin Guru Patreon subscriber to read this premium content.
This article was updated with current cost of living information and updated other categories with current information where possible.
Colombia plans to vaccinate 35 million in Colombia for COVID19 this year. To meet this goal, Colombia needs to ramp up COVID-19 vaccinations.
If Colombia wants to vaccinate 35 million people this year, the country needs to ramp up the vaccination rate, which it is doing.
As of September 1, Colombia had administered a total of 35,750,492 COVID-19 doses, as seen in the following graphic from Instituto Nacional de Salud (INS).
n 92 days from June 1 to September 1, Colombia administered administered 25,658,370 doses, which is an average of 278,895 doses per day in the 92 days from June 1 to September 1.So, the vaccination rate in Colombia starting in June, July and August has increased over the rate over the prior few months.
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This article was updated with vaccination data for Colombia from September 1.
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, the retirement income requirement for a Colombia retirement visa has dropped to $725 USD at the exchange rate of 3,789 pesos to USD,
The visa agency we partnered with has helped 154 Medellin Guru readers obtain Colombia retirement visas including 9 in July and has helped several readers open businesses in Colombia.
This article was updated again with the current retirement income requirement in USD for the Colombia retirement visa with the current exchange rate.
We provide a detailed guide to how to make international phone calls in Colombia, including how to call to and from the United States and Canada. We also look at how to call between fixed lines and cell phones in Colombia.
I have seen several guides on the Internet about making phone calls in Colombia. But they all seem to be incomplete or out-of-date. So, we are providing this guide to how make international phone calls in Colombia. Also, we look at calling between different types of phones in Colombia.
on September 1, 2021, Colombia has changed to a 10-digit fixed line numbers using a 3-digit area code. So, we have updated this article with new information.
This article was updated with new fixed line area codes in Colombia.
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 August 2021.
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 two of the active blogs in Colombia published new content in August 2021. Since the coronavirus pandemic started several expat blogs went inactive.
This article was updated to update published posts information for each blog and reorder list with updated Facebook followers.
DDoS attack: on April 24, the Medellin Guru site was attacked by a major denial of service attack which shut the site down briefly in the afternoon. We now have DDoS protection.
The Medellin Guru website continues to be attacked daily by DDoS attacks. As of September 3 the Medellin Guru website has been attacked by DDoS for 133 days in a row.
The number of attacks has decreased so we were able to remove the message from Cloudflare for two weeks. But we had to turn this on again on June 9 due to an increase of attacks.
We need help from readers due to the continued DDoS attacks! These attacks are costing us time and money to defend the site..
This article was updated with information that DDoS attacks have continued on the Medellin Guru website for 133 days and limits on comments on the Medellin Guru site.
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.
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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 September.
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.
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By asking for help from our readers to remain ad free, we already have over 910 paying subscribers (patrons). Thanks everyone!
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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.
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 September 9 to September 15, 2021.
Due to the coronavirus pandemic most regular weekly Medellín events in the next week are canceled.
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 September. So, bookmark this page that is updated weekly so you don't miss any events.
The weekly Medellin Guru newsletter now has sponsors. We currently have seven sponsors for our weekly newsletter:
Darrell and Diana Reamer
David Williams
Mary Johnson
Charlie
Anonymous
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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
29 months ago we launched the Medellin Guru Events & Discussion Forum, which is very active with over 3,580 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 29 months, over 910 events have been posted in this group as well as over 3,500 other posts, which are categorized. The following are the most popular categories of posts:
Colombia News - 858 posts
Healthcare - 829 posts
Expat tips - 593 posts
Visas - 307 posts
Restaurants - 258 posts
Travel in Colombia - 251 posts
Transportation - 238 posts
Venezuela News - 194 posts
Things to See and Do - 169 posts
In addition, this group is actively moderated with absolutely no real estate ads permitted unlike other Medellín Facebook groups.
The return of international cruise lines to Colombia is a reality. On Tuesday August 24th, the first cruise docked at the Port of Cartagena, after more than a year and a half without shipping companies arriving in Colombia. This means the cruise season 2021-2022 officially begins in the country!
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:
