Pablo Escobar is probably the most famous Colombian, even almost 20 years after his death. He spent most of his life (and all of his death) in Medellin, so it's no surprise that today you can spend an afternoon on the Pablo Escobar Tour.
I had serious reservations about going on the tour. It certainly sounded interesting but the tour concludes by meeting Pablo's brother Roberto and visiting his house. Mini Bear and I weren't terribly comfortable with the thought of our money going to a man who was so heavily involved in the bloody drug trade, but it turns out that the profits are donated to an HIV organization that Roberto works with.
The first stop was just a couple of blocks from my hostel to see a building that served as Escobar's headquarters in the 1980s. It was bombed by the rival Cali cartel around 1984 and was eventually confiscated by the Colombian government in 1989. Today it just looks like another abandoned building overtaken by graffiti.
Next we drove through the city to the private cemetery where Escobar and his family are buried.
We didn't get to see the rooftop where he died (other tours earlier in the week had visited it), but Colombia's Fernando Botero has two paintings depicting Escobar's death hanging in Medellin.
The last stop was Roberto Escobar's house in an upscale neighborhood. We saw the bullet proof truck that was a gift to Pablo from the Cali cartel (I'm assuming this was before they bombed his HQ...?), complete with what would have probably been a fatal headshot gunshot if not for the bullet proof glass. The door must have weighed three times what a normal truck door would weigh.
This desk used to hide US$2,000,000 in cash for emergencies. That doesn't necessarily sound like much for an international drug lord twenty years ago, but Escobar is said to have had two hundred houses and I would be willing to bet he had stashes at most, if not all, of them.
A wanted poster hangs in the living room window next to a bullet hole from when kidnappers broke in last year and tried to kidnap Roberto for ransom.
A built-in bookcase holding knick knacks was also a secret hiding place, big enough to comfortably hide a person or two with its six foot plus ceiling. Roberto apparently is a notorious flirt and always calls a woman up to demonstrate the hiding place. Lucky me, I was the one he picked...he held my hand and wouldn't let go! He actually asked if I was nervous because I think I may have been shaking! It was a truly odd experience to be holding hands and in conversation with a man who was once hunted by multiple governments for his ruthless actions.
However, what I found most incredible had nothing to do with Pablo or drugs. Apparently Roberto used to be a professional cyclist and coach! The brothers were involved with some of Colombia's earliest cycling teams: Roberto as a cyclist and later as a trainer and Pablo as an investor. And what was Roberto's nickname? Osito, or little bear (dare I say Mini Bear?). Here are the two Mini Bears together (Roberto is center, in white).
Here's a link to a bit more background about the Escobar brothers and cycling: http://www.cyclinginquisition.com/2009/11/pablo-escobar-guerrillas-and-my-dream.html. This makes today's drug problems in cycling seem somewhat less significant.
The Escobar tour runs daily so I can't imagine what it must be like to have dozens of strangers traipse through your house daily to hear you talk about your infamous dead brother and your own sordid criminal past. We had the opportunity to ask Roberto questions and I was curious if he had any regrets, but it didn't seem like my place to ask. Good or bad, this man has been through a lot and it's not for me to judge him.
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