Medellin

On to Medellin (pronounced med – e – zheen), through lush landscapes and a winding  mountain road to this city of 4 million set in the valley and surrounding hills.  In the 80’s and 90’s it was known as the most dangerous city in the world, with 7500 murders a year.  In the drug wars with Pablo Escobar leading the way, police, politicians, journalists, and rival cartels were all targets.

You wouldn’t guess that today.  We stayed in the El Poblado neighbourhood, the best part of the city, with open air restaurants and bars surrounding a square where everyone grabs a drink and hangs out, complete with buskers and hawkers and accordion players.  We ended up at a posh rooftop lounge with an amazing view of the city at night.  Medellin is known as the city of eternal spring, with nice moderate temperatures year round.

In the morning we did a tour of the city, starting with the square filled with bronze Botero sculptures.  Botero is a famed Columbian painter and sculptor of people and animals with lots of curves.   Nothing fancy to a lot of them but they put a smile on my face.  We got on to the above ground metro system, the only one in the country, then transferred to the cable car metro, first in South America.  The cable car up the mountain took us through the barrios, like the favelas in Rio where the poorest people live, sometimes looking right into the makeshift homes.  We walked around a bit up here, surrounded by friendly people.  At one of the cable car stations we looked below to a lush forest where a rat and a vulture were spotted.  This was a dumping ground for bodies back in the drug war days, every morning there would be new bodies here.

Back at the hotel we had street food before heading off on the optional Pablo Escobar tour.  Pablo was the biggest drug lord in history, making billions of dollars while helping out the poor people.  He died in 1993, suicide? Killed by police? Anything keeping his name alive is controversial with the Colombian people, some of whom still hold him in high regard for his good deeds (not including blowing up an airplane of innocent people while trying to kill a policitian) and some of whom want to forget all about that dark time in their recent history.

I was excited and slightly terrified to go (since I just watched Narcos).  A few of us were picked up by a woman and a big necked pock faced driver, going first to his gravesite where you can see the prison he built for himself on a high plateau.  (He agreed to go to prison, to keep himself from being extradited to a US prison, if he could build it himself with his own terms).  He had all his buddies at the prison with him, no guards allowed, friends family and girls brought in whenever he wanted, pools and hot tubs, escape route, etc.

Then we drove up through thick forest to the home once owned by Pablo’s mother, where he lived.  The home is a museum now.  We knew that Pablo’s brother Roberto, involved in the cocaine business as an accountant, could be met on this tour, and now that he was in town and would meet with us.  Oh.  At the home we had coffee while the driver’s bigger twin checked out everything, then Roberto came in to speak to us.  In a soft voice, in Spanish, he welcomed us and told us about his foundation for HIV patients who benefit from the proceeds of this tour.  There were books and photos for sale, including a book written by Roberto that I showed interest in.  The driver was showing me more, hoping for me to buy, while no one else with me was interested.  I decided to take one for the team, buy the book and get home alive.  Just kidding, but my heart is pounding remembering this!  Roberto signed and thumbprinted the book, then posed with each of us for a picture with him beside the wanted poster offering $10 million for Pablo and Roberto.  Roberto did 20 years in jail, and while he was there received a letter bomb that cost him an eye and many operations to restore sight in the other one.

We did make it back alive, where I found out that the driver had been involved in the killings.  He’s now Roberto’s bodyguard, there have been threats on Roberto’s life from people trying to find money that may still be hidden all over the country and in the house we visited.  These people of course have been killed while trying, it seems like no one gets taken alive.

After that I really needed a drink.  But I held off until some of us went to the finest restaurant in Colombia, Carmen.  A five course tasting menu including wine cost about $75, a bargain.  After 3 ½ hours of amazing food that was enough excitement for one day for me.

We leave tomorrow for our last stop, Cartagena on the Caribbean coast.