I'm not much of a guided tour sort of guy - I like to go where I want, when I want, and I don´t like someone else telling where I should be looking or for how long. That being said - when I heard there was a tour of Pablo Escobar´s house where visitors got to sit around in his living room and chat with his brother... I had to do it.
Juan, our tour guide came to pick us up and I jumped in the car with Julia, an Aussie girl I had met at the hostel and two other kids from hostels in the city. As we wound our way through Medellin Juan told us the brief history of the Escobar family and we marveled at how much the city has changed in the past 20 years.
Two decades ago Medellin was one of the most dangerous cities in the world. Escobar was warring with the Cali Cartel, bombs were planted in the streets, kidnappings happened on a regular basis, and it was easy to get caught in the crossfire. It was a complete non-destination for tourism and even those brave enough to go to Colombia in the early 90´s avoided Medellin. Today Medellin is a beautiful and safe city, complete with museums, botanical gardens, and a ¨golden mile¨ of high end restaurants and night clubs. It even has a metro system which was strategically built so it encompasses some of the most downtrodden areas of the city and attempts to reincorporate them into the social fabric.
When we arrived at the house we were told no area was off limits, we could take pictures of anything we wanted, and Roberto was happy to answer any and all questions. I felt like a kid in a candy store. Roberto came out and we all introduced ourselves, shook hands, and exchanged small talk. Work was being done on the garage so the first things we saw were a 1950´s pickup truck, the first vehicle Roberto bought, and a fully bulletproof Chevy 1500. Not only was the Chevrolet bulletproof, it also had fog machines, oil reservoirs to drop on the road, and a few other James Bond inspired gadgets to help evade police. We all hopped in and pretended to drive it for silly photo ops.
Next up we were shown the Harley that Pablo used for his first drug smuggling mission. In one purchase he turned a $50,000 profit, and in the early 80´s that was a lot of money.
Just inside the front door there is a bullet hole through a picture frame and into the wall, however oddly enough this wasn´t from the gun slinging days of drug running. About a year ago Roberto was tipped off that a small gang was planning on ransacking the house looking for buried treasure that the Escobars supposedly hid there. The police showed up and a shoot out ensued, taking the lives of 3 young men.
Then we moved on to the bike room. I try to keep it under control most of the time, but sometimes the bike nerd in me explodes and this was one of those times. One wall of the small room was filled with pictures and newspaper clippings from Roberto´s racing days before he got involved in drug dealing. He spent 4 years racing on the National team before coaching it for a decade, and even has a picture with Eddy Merckx. Opposite the pictures is a specially made Colnago with gold plated chianstays, head set, and fork - one of four ever made that Ernesto specifically gifted to Pablo, and Pablo gave to Roberto. So. Effing. Cool.
Outside we hung out with Roberto for a while asking him questions and getting a little better idea what his life has been like. No one wanted to step on his toes - he was so nice to let us into his home and share his experiences with us that no one wanted to offend him with hard questions. I couldn´t let this opportunity pass though, and as things got more comfortable I started asking him about the toll of the drug business and a formally Wanted man´s take on US foreign policy. He was very open, and oddly it was our tour guide who had the most amount of uncomfortable pauses.
Before we left I had to get Roberto back into the bike room to take a picture with his Colnago. Earlier that day I had flipped on the TV in the hostel and found the Giro d'Itallia on. I´m a little out of touch and the broadcast was in Spanish so I was surprised to see the Trek team in all black move to the front of the peloton with 5K to go. As I watched a little more I knew something was very wrong and then found out a rider had crashed and died the day before. I was actually very moved by the solidarity shown by the peloton and with it fresh in my mind talked to Roberto about it a bit. And since I know the words for cyclist, downhill, and bike race in Spanish I could talk one on one without a translator to one of the world´s most notorious drug dealers - unlike when I needed words such as assassinate, smuggle, and foreign policy.
Juan, our tour guide came to pick us up and I jumped in the car with Julia, an Aussie girl I had met at the hostel and two other kids from hostels in the city. As we wound our way through Medellin Juan told us the brief history of the Escobar family and we marveled at how much the city has changed in the past 20 years.
Two decades ago Medellin was one of the most dangerous cities in the world. Escobar was warring with the Cali Cartel, bombs were planted in the streets, kidnappings happened on a regular basis, and it was easy to get caught in the crossfire. It was a complete non-destination for tourism and even those brave enough to go to Colombia in the early 90´s avoided Medellin. Today Medellin is a beautiful and safe city, complete with museums, botanical gardens, and a ¨golden mile¨ of high end restaurants and night clubs. It even has a metro system which was strategically built so it encompasses some of the most downtrodden areas of the city and attempts to reincorporate them into the social fabric.
When we arrived at the house we were told no area was off limits, we could take pictures of anything we wanted, and Roberto was happy to answer any and all questions. I felt like a kid in a candy store. Roberto came out and we all introduced ourselves, shook hands, and exchanged small talk. Work was being done on the garage so the first things we saw were a 1950´s pickup truck, the first vehicle Roberto bought, and a fully bulletproof Chevy 1500. Not only was the Chevrolet bulletproof, it also had fog machines, oil reservoirs to drop on the road, and a few other James Bond inspired gadgets to help evade police. We all hopped in and pretended to drive it for silly photo ops.
Next up we were shown the Harley that Pablo used for his first drug smuggling mission. In one purchase he turned a $50,000 profit, and in the early 80´s that was a lot of money.
Just inside the front door there is a bullet hole through a picture frame and into the wall, however oddly enough this wasn´t from the gun slinging days of drug running. About a year ago Roberto was tipped off that a small gang was planning on ransacking the house looking for buried treasure that the Escobars supposedly hid there. The police showed up and a shoot out ensued, taking the lives of 3 young men.
Then we moved on to the bike room. I try to keep it under control most of the time, but sometimes the bike nerd in me explodes and this was one of those times. One wall of the small room was filled with pictures and newspaper clippings from Roberto´s racing days before he got involved in drug dealing. He spent 4 years racing on the National team before coaching it for a decade, and even has a picture with Eddy Merckx. Opposite the pictures is a specially made Colnago with gold plated chianstays, head set, and fork - one of four ever made that Ernesto specifically gifted to Pablo, and Pablo gave to Roberto. So. Effing. Cool.
Outside we hung out with Roberto for a while asking him questions and getting a little better idea what his life has been like. No one wanted to step on his toes - he was so nice to let us into his home and share his experiences with us that no one wanted to offend him with hard questions. I couldn´t let this opportunity pass though, and as things got more comfortable I started asking him about the toll of the drug business and a formally Wanted man´s take on US foreign policy. He was very open, and oddly it was our tour guide who had the most amount of uncomfortable pauses.
Before we left I had to get Roberto back into the bike room to take a picture with his Colnago. Earlier that day I had flipped on the TV in the hostel and found the Giro d'Itallia on. I´m a little out of touch and the broadcast was in Spanish so I was surprised to see the Trek team in all black move to the front of the peloton with 5K to go. As I watched a little more I knew something was very wrong and then found out a rider had crashed and died the day before. I was actually very moved by the solidarity shown by the peloton and with it fresh in my mind talked to Roberto about it a bit. And since I know the words for cyclist, downhill, and bike race in Spanish I could talk one on one without a translator to one of the world´s most notorious drug dealers - unlike when I needed words such as assassinate, smuggle, and foreign policy.
After saying bye to Roberto we saw the house where Pablo was killed, his grave site, and his former penthouse which was rocked by a massive bomb from the Cali Cartel. All of it was interesting, but the high mark was definitely seeing the human side of a legend - talking to Roberto Escobar
Roberto and I with his 1 of 4 Colnago.
Hanging out in the James Bond pickup. 
wow. and i thought my bikes had bling.
ReplyDeleteIn all fairness, Escobar has no anodized pink parts on his bike and I believe you have quite a few.
DeleteCan I make a couple comments on the blog re: technical stuff?
ReplyDeleteAs a reader, I would like to see a layout where the photos were integrated into the text, rather than hanging off the end like so many lemmings. Also, can I recommend slimming the "About Me" section a little bit? Just put the most interesting, creative, or wild bits (the last paragraph about nachos and saxophones and world saving is more interesting to me than "2 months here and there" etc).
xo
I've tried to incorporate your suggestions, albeit a bit late. Let me know what you think.
Delete