Welcome to the 213th weekly Medellin Guru Newsletter.
We Published 1 New Article in the Past Week
Update on Medellin Guru Under Attack
Medellin Guru Blog Under Attack for Over Five Months
|
|
|
The popular Medellin Guru blog in Colombia has now been under attack for over five 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 question but will send an email challenge asking for proof you are a real person before answering
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.
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. |
|
Read More
|
5 Popular Articles From the
Medellin Guru Archives
Caño Cristales: The Most Beautiful River in the World
|
|
|
Caño Cristales is a famous river in Colombia known as the “river of five colors”, which is also considered by many to be “the most beautiful river in the world”.
During several months each year, Caño Cristales becomes a rainbow of vibrant colors including red, green, yellow, blue and black hues in a natural display that reportedly happens nowhere else on Earth.
Visiting Caño Cristales is more of an adventure trip, as it’s not so easily accessible. You need to get there by a combination of air, boat, 4×4 and some hiking.
But in my experience, it’s an unforgettable trip as the river is breathtakingly beautiful.
|
|
Read More
|
12 Popular Colombian Soups to Try When You Visit Colombia
|
|
|
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.
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.
|
|
Read More
|
How to Get to Medellín from the Airport – 2021 Update
|
|
|
There are several ways to get to Medellín from the Airport. Medellín actually has two airports, so we look at how to get to and from both of Medellín’s airports, updated for 2021.
There are six different ways to get to Medellín from the international airport ranging from inexpensive buses to taxis and private drivers. These options also have a wide range in price from 13,000 to over 135,000 pesos ($3 to $36).
Also, you can use these same options to go to the airport from Medellín.
|
|
Read More
|
Comprehensive Guide to Buying and Using Cell Phones in Colombia
|
|
|
Cell phone services are relatively easy to establish in Colombia for foreigners but there are a number of regulations. So, we provide a comprehensive guide to buying and using cell phones in Colombia, updated for 2021.
Colombia has a relatively modern telecommunications infrastructure with several Colombian competitors offering mobile phone services. This is due to Colombia opening up its telecommunications industry in 1991.
|
|
Read More
|
Gringo Pricing: The Reality of Gringo Pricing in Medellín and Colombia
|
|
|
Is there gringo pricing found in Medellín and Colombia? We look at the reality of gringo pricing and what you can do to avoid being taken advantage of.
First a definition. “Gringo pricing” is a term used by some expats when foreigners are charged higher prices for goods and services. This is due to being a foreigner located in a foreign country like Colombia.
Essentially gringo pricing means the price of a product or service is inflated due to a customer being a foreigner.
Also, as a foreigner from North America, Europe or Asia, you can be considered wealthy. So, some Colombians and some gringos in Colombia may have a special price for you as a tourist.
|
|
Read More
|
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: 18 Tips to Save Money
|
|
|
We provide a guide to saving money in Medellín. We provide 18 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.
Medellín is not the only city in Colombia with foreigners. There are many foreigners living in other cities and smaller pueblos throughout Colombia.
We provide a guide to saving money in Medellín with 18 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.
|
|
Read More
|
Medellin Guru's
Visa Services for Expats
|
|
|
|
The Medellin Guru visa services was launched in March 2019. And in 30 months, a total of 454 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 547 clients of the Medellin Guru visa service in 28 months, which is an average of 18 clients per month.
|
|
Read More
|
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 170 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.
|
|
Read More
|
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 29 months we helped over 1,100 clients.
Medellin Guru starting offering services in March 2019. Since that time with our partners we have helped over 1,100 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 1,100 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 340 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 2,000 clients and paying subscribers.
|
|
Read More
|
Subscribe to Medellin Guru's
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
- 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.
|
|
Read More
|
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 139 weeks we updated a total of 2,042 articles. Here are 8 of the 13 updated articles from the past week:
Premium Content: The Ultimate Guide to El Poblado for Expats Living in El Poblado
|
|
|
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.
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.
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.
This article was updated with updates to several sections..
|
|
Read More
|
Premium Content: Pros and Cons of Buenos Aires: A Hidden Gem Neighborhood in Medellín
|
|
|
We look at the pros and cons of Buenos Aires, which is a hidden gem neighborhood in Medellín, that hasn’t yet been discovered by many foreigners.
Buenos Aires is a comuna in Medellín that is located east of El Centro. But Buenos Aires is considered much safer than nearby El Centro. Also, Buenos Aires has become a more desirable neighborhood after a tram line opened plus it has one of the newest malls in Medellín.
I have a good friend living in Buenos Aires and he says it is slowly being discovered by foreigners, as he hears more English being spoken each year.
Our article includes a list of 17 common mistakes foreigners make when buying real estate in Colombia, which is based on my discussions with many real estate agents and foreigners who have bought real estate over the past several years.
In this article we look at a total of 10 pros and cons of Buenos Aires (6 pros and 4 cons).
This article was updated with updates to several sections..
|
|
Read More
|
PREMIUM CONTENT: Pros and Cons of El Centro: A Medellín Neighborhood Discovered by Some Expats
|
|
|
El Centro is neighborhood in Medellín that has some foreigners living there in spite of a rough reputation. We look at the pros and cons of El Centro for expats living in or visiting El Centro..
The center of Medellín is the La Candelaria comuna, which is also known as El Centro. La Candelaria is considered one of Medellín’s rougher neighborhoods.
El Centro can be chaotic during the day with many people. Also, care should be taken at night when El Centro empties out.
But there some parts of La Candelaria that should not be overlooked. For example, the area near the San Diego mall is part of La Candelaria.
I have met several expats living in La Candelaria for its central location and the lower cost of living. And there are several high-rise apartment buildings in the area with very nice views of the city.
This article was updated with more current information.
|
|
Read More
|
PREMIUM CONTENT: Colombia Needs to Ramp up COVID-19 Vaccinations
|
|
|
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 October 7, Colombia had administered a total of 42,349,272 COVID-19 doses.
In 129 days from June 1 to October 7, Colombia administered administered 32,257,150 doses, which is an average of 250,055 doses per day in the 129 days from June 1 to October 7. So, the vaccination rate in Colombia starting in June, July, August and September has increased over the rate over the prior few months.
This article was updated with vaccination data for Colombia from October 7.
|
|
Read More
|
How to Obtain a Colombia Retirement Visa – 2021 Update
|
|
|
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 $724 USD at the exchange rate of 3,766 pesos to USD,
The visa agency we partnered with has helped 160 Medellin Guru readers obtain Colombia retirement visas including 6 in August.
This article was updated again with the current retirement income requirement in USD for the Colombia retirement visa with the current exchange rate.
|
|
Read More
|
How to Obtain a Colombia Investment Visa – 2021 Update
|
|
|
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 22 Medellin Guru readers obtain investment visas and has helped several readers open businesses in Colombia.
This article was updated with the current investment visa requirement in USD for the Colombia three investment visa options at the current exchange rate.
|
|
Read More
|
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 October 13:
- +1,256 new cases
- +34 reported deaths
- +48,035 COVID-19 tests
Totals:
- 4,975,656 cases
- 13,663 active cases 0.27 percent of total
In addition, very notably the rolling average of daily coronavirus cases in Colombia has now dropped in 92 of the past 104 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.
|
|
Read More
|
Popular Colombian Visas for Foreigners: Which Visa is the Most Popular?
|
|
|
We look at the most popular Colombian visas for foreigners based on the experience of over 450 Medellin Guru readers. Which visa is the most popular?
We previously provided a c omprehensive Colombia visa guide that shows how to get a Colombian visa with all the possible visa options and tips for getting a visa.
But even with this guide and over 20 visa articles, we get many questions from Medellin Guru readers about which visas are most popular for foreigners.
So, in this article we look at the most popular Colombian visas for foreigners based on the experience of over 450 Medellin Guru readers who received Colombian visas through our visa partnership.
This article was updated with with updated statistics for visas obtained by Medellin Guru readers.
|
|
Read More
|
Spanish Phrase of the Week
With Medellin Guru's partnership with the Spanish School OLSA International we now plan to include a Phrase of the Week in our weekly newsletter.
Medellin Guru
Needs Your Support!
Jeff the founder of Medellin Guru
Medellin Guru has existed now for nearly four years without advertising and is primarily the work of Jeff and his Colombian wife.
The founder Jeff with his Colombia wife and baby
Medellin Guru really needs the help of Readers this month, particularly after the continued DDoS attack, which required adding DDoS protection. It only costs as little as $3 per month to subscribe via Patreon and have access to everything.
Save 15 Percent on Annual Subscriptions to our Premium Content
|
|
|
|
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 October.
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.
|
|
Read More
|
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.
|
|
Read More
|
See Our Weekly Medellin Events Calendar for October 14 to October 20
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 October 14 to October 20, 2021.
Also, OSLA International normally hosts virtual language exchange online each Wednesday. Also, there is an upcoming national holiday on October 18.
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.
|
|
Read More
|
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
- David Williams
- Mary Johnson
- Charlie
- 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
30 months ago we launched the Medellin Guru Events & Discussion Forum, which is very active with over 3,590 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 30 months, over 930 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:
- Healthcare - 873 posts
- Colombia News - 881 posts
- Expat tips - 716 posts
- Travel in Colombia - 354 posts
- Visas - 346 posts
- Restaurants - 289 posts
- Transportation - 242 posts
- Things to See and Do - 228 posts
- Venezuela News - 195 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!
|
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
|
Copyright © 2021 Medellin Guru - All Rights Reserved.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
