During my year abroad I was lucky enough to visit Medellín, most notoriously known as the former home of Pablo Escobar. The city itself is beautiful with the greenest foliage imaginable, so I found it pretty hard to believe that 30 years ago it was one of the most dangerous cities in the world.
My dad and I, like typical Western tourists, booked in for a ‘Pablo Escobar Tour’ that would take us to some of the key sites and educate us on the reality of what I’d watched on ‘Narcos’. The first place we visited was the final hiding place of Escobar until he was spotted in 1993 by police through the window, chased onto the roof and famously shot. The building is now a language school, although, has only recently been bought out after (understandably) remaining deserted for over a decade. On the roof, there was definitely an eerie feel in the air. I remember not exactly knowing what to do in that moment– look? take a photo? I didn’t quite feel comfortable doing anything. Apparently for our guide, Miguel, this was photo opportunity of the century. He put my dad and I in perfect alignment for a photo saying, “Smile!!! Thumbs up!!!”. Don’t get me wrong, I totally appreciate the joy and relief that must have rippled through Medellín the day that Escobar died. It was an end to the dangerousness that Medellín had inhibited, as well as probably a small compensation for the loved ones they had lost because of him. Yet, I still felt slightly odd taking a photo as if were the Eiffel Tower behind me, and not the death place of one of the biggest drug dealers in history.
Our tour then moved on to the graveyard where Escobar and his family are buried. I’m not really sure if this surprised me or not, but their land was separated from the rest with big bouquets of fresh flowers – and not to mention an amazing look out onto the city. It was bizarre to me that the government had allowed these gravestones that were almost shrine-like, clearly distinct to the others. Whilst at the cemetery, Miguel whispered to us “Look over there! That’s Popeye”. Now if you’ve watched Narcos or just have educated yourself on the topic, you’ll know that Popeye was one of Escobar’s hitmen from the 80s. Now in his 50s, he’d been in prison for 22 years, and here he was in front of my own eyes, apparently giving his own ‘personal’ tours. Freaky.
A final part of the tour worth mentioning was the famous ‘La Catedral’ prison that Esobar had built for himself on a pretty good deal with the government that he would serve 5 years there, then be released. It was deserted, unchanged, and not like a prison at all. It was huge and brightly coloured with, because of the fog, what I only imagine was a beautiful outlook onto the city.
The overall tour was definitely interesting and surreal, but by the end I felt guilty for participating in keeping the Narco history alive. It didn’t seem fair that such a beautiful city full of character and colour was predominantly defined by something bad that had happened to it. So, for those of you interested, I would recommend Medellín for it’s beauty, not for its past.