Welcome to the 214th weekly Medellin Guru Newsletter.
We Published 1 New Article in the Past Week
Fiestas del Platano 2021: A Week of Festivities in Sabaneta
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From October 11 to 18 was Fiestas del Platano 2021 in Sabaneta, which is a popular week of concerts, music, gastronomy, activities and much more. During this week, people come to Sabaneta from all over the Aburrá Valley.
This is a celebration that normally takes place the last days of the month of June for 26 years. And it’s part of the history and tradition of Sabaneta. In 2019 it was in June and we have photos from 2019.
This celebration was born because of the importance the plátano had for many years in the Sabaneta municipality. Sabaneta had a large number of plátano fincas. And in case you don’t know, plátanos are fruits that are starchy plantains that are cooked and eaten more like a vegetable.
Fiestas del Platano is an activity in Sabaneta that normally takes place every year to keep the tradition alive. Also, this is one of the most important festivals celebrated in Sabaneta.
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Update on Medellin Guru Under Attack
Medellin Guru Blog Under Attack for Over Five Months
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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.
In addition, the attacks have intensified in the past two weeks.
Furthermore, 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. |
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5 Popular Articles From the
Medellin Guru Archives
Las Lajas Sanctuary: The Most Beautiful Church in Colombia
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Las Lajas Sanctuary ( Santuario de Las Lajas) is arguably considered the most beautiful church in Colombia. It’s also considered by many to be one of the most beautiful churches in the world. And The Telegraph even named Las Lajas Sanctuary the most beautiful church in the world in 2015.
Las Lajas Sanctuary is a Gothic Revival style church built inside a canyon of the Guáitara river. So, it’s often been called a jewel of engineering.
Las Lajas Sanctuary (Santuario de Las Lajas) is one of the world’s most beautiful churches. And it’s definitely worth visiting if you are crossing the Ecuador/Colombia border by land.
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13 Popular Colombian Drinks to Try When You Visit Colombia
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If you are visiting Colombia don’t forget to try traditional Colombian drinks. We look at 13 popular Colombian drinks you should try while in Colombia.
Colombian cuisine is diverse and in Colombia there is a wide variety of hot and cold Colombian drinks for any occasion.
Each Colombian drink has its time of the day. Some accompany breakfast or snacks, while others are typically drunk alone, or at night only.
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Establishing Credit: A Guide How to Establish Credit in Colombia
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We provide a guide how to establish credit in Colombia for foreigners and how to build credit that is needed for establishing Internet and other services.
Getting established in Colombia’s credit reporting system is easy for foreigners once you have a visa and cedula extranjeria identification card.
Unfortunately, your credit score in our home country doesn’t doesn’t help with anything in Colombia, no matter how high it is
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Comprehensive Guide to Buying and Using Cell Phones in Colombia
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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.
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Gringo: Is Being Called a Gringo Offensive in Colombia?
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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.
Several Medellin Guru readers have asked recently if the word gringo is offensive. So, we now look at this. Would you shrug this off? Would you see it as funny? Would you be offended?.
I have lived in Colombia for over eight years and heard this word used countless times, by staff in stores and restaurants, Colombian friends, other foreigners and even strangers on the street.
I have been called a gringo many times while living in Colombia. And I have heard many Colombians use this word to refer to foreigners from the United States, Australia, Germany, England, France, and many other countries. But rarely has there been a tone of offense in anyone’s voice.
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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.
We look at how to be an Expat in Colombia
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We look at how to be an Expat in Colombia. The rewards of moving abroad can be huge but with unexpected challenges to overcome. We provide 12 tips to be a successful Expat in Colombia.
People leave their home countries for myriad reasons: some are looking for adventure, some may be flying the nest and learning to stand on your own two feet and others may be looking for a lower cost retirement location.
The rewards of moving abroad can huge, but also come complete with their own set of unexpected challenges. In this article we look at how to be an expat in Colombia with 12 tips to be a successful expat.
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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 31 months, a total of 567 visas have been successfully received by Medellin Guru readers:
In addition, this visa service renewed 56 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 567 clients of the Medellin Guru visa service in 31 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 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.
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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 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 1,120 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 1,120 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.
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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 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.
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We Published Updates to 18 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 140 weeks we updated a total of 2,060 articles. Here are 8 of the 118 updated articles from the past week:
Premium Content: 8 Downsides of El Poblado: Living in Medellín’s Expensive Neighborhood
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El Poblado is the most popular neighborhood for foreigners living in or visiting Medellín. But no neighborhood is perfect and there are downsides of El Poblado and living in Medellín’s most expensive neighborhood.
El Poblado is the most upscale neighborhood in the city of Medellín. In addition, El Poblado is where the most hotels and furnished apartments catering to foreigners are located.
There are pros and cons to every neighborhood. And the following is a list of eight downsides of El Poblado, in no particular order.
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..
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Premium Content: The Ultimate Guide to Sabaneta for Expats Living in Sabaneta
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Sabaneta is becoming more popular for expats living in Medellín. We provide a comprehensive guide to Sabaneta for expats looking to live in Sabaneta. This guide was last updated on October 17, 2021.
Sabaneta is unlike Medellín. The pace is slower in Sabaneta and more laid-back compared to Medellín’s modern and more energetic feel. Several Medellin Guru readers have asked questions about Sabaneta. So, we provide this comprehensive guide to Sabaneta.
Much of the daily life in Sabaneta is centered around Parque Sabaneta, which is a one square block plaza that is filled with trees for shade. In addition, this park is surrounded by several small restaurants, bars and shops.
In addition, Sabaneta has become increasingly popular with foreigners looking for an alternative. Property rentals in Sabaneta can be cheaper than in El Poblado, Envigado or Laureles-Estadio.
This article was updated with updates to several sections..
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PREMIUM CONTENT: 5 Best Neighborhoods in Medellín: A Guide to Choosing a Neighborhood
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We look at the 5 best neighborhoods in Medellín for foreigners including comparing the neighborhoods in terms of cost of living, safety and walkability and several other categories.
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.
In this article, we look at the five best neighborhoods in the Medellín metro, which are the most popular with foreigners living in Medellín or visiting the city.
By neighborhoods in this article, we mean comunas of Medellín and separate municipalities in the Aburrá Valley. In Medellín, there are 16 comunas and in the Aburrá Valley there are 10 municipalities. Barrios are too small to compare.
The bottom line is you have many neighborhood choices in Medellín and the Aburrá Valley and to each his own, everyone's priorities are different. The different neighborhoods in Medellín offer a wide range of amenities and a wide range of cost-of-living.
This article was updated with more current information.
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PREMIUM CONTENT: Colombia Needs to Ramp up COVID-19 Vaccinations
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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 134 days from June 1 to October 12, Colombia administered 33,516,023 doses, which is an average of 250,120 doses per day in the 134 days from June 1 to October 12. 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 12.
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How to Obtain a Colombia Retirement Visa – 2021 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.
At the current exchange rate, the retirement income requirement for a Colombia retirement visa has dropped to $723 USD at the exchange rate of 3,767 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.
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How to Obtain a Colombia Investment Visa – 2021 Update
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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.
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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 October 20:
- +1,224 new cases
- +21 reported deaths
- +38,262 COVID-19 tests
Totals:
- 4,984,751 cases
- 11,968 active cases 0.24 percent of total
In addition, very notably the rolling average of daily coronavirus cases in Colombia has now dropped in 98 of the past 112 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.
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Colombia Coronavirus Death Rate: What are the Chances of Dying?
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We look at the Coronavirus death rate in Colombia for different ages. We also look at the Coronavirus recovery rate in Colombia.
Colombia Ministerio de Salud (Ministry of Health) reported the number of coronavirus cases in Colombia on October 16 – a total of 4,980,233 cases with 126,830 deaths.
Based on a total of 126,830 deaths and a total of 4,980,233 cases, the overall coronavirus death rate in Colombia among confirmed cases on October 16 was 2.55 percent.
In addition, it is important to note that 72.1 percent of the coronavirus deaths in Colombia as of October 16, 2021 have been aged 60 or older.
This article was updated with with Colombia coronavirus, death and recovery statistics from October 16.
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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 15 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 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.
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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 October 21 to October 27
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 October 21 to October 27, 2021.
Also, OSLA International normally hosts virtual language exchange online each Wednesday. Also, there is an upcoming national holiday on November 1.
We decided to include in our calendar this week the regular weekly events that are canceled so readers will know which weekly events were canceled due to the coronavirus pandemic.
We may start to see some events being scheduled later in September. 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
- 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 3,600 members.
This Facebook group is intended for the followers of Medellin Guru and other expats and readers interested in sharing experiences and ideas about living in Medellín and visiting Medellín and Colombia.
In the past 30 months, over 940 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 - 802 posts
- Colombia News - 861 posts
- Expat tips - 742 posts
- Travel in Colombia - 373 posts
- Visas - 354 posts
- Restaurants - 295 posts
- Transportation - 243 posts
- Things to See and Do - 242 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!
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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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