Today was a big day! I decided to join the crew from yesterday for the Pablo Escobar Tour. For those who do not know who Pablo is - let's say he was the biggest narc guy that ever hit Colombia and the World. He had soo much money that he offered to pay the country's debt of $22B back in the 1980s if the country would let him traffic narcotics uninterrupted. His biggest customer was (and probably still is the US). For more info..
Me and Min gearing up to head out!
So this building is one of Pablo's properties. He used to handle his business here on all floors.
Here is his old school Direct TV Dish
Here is where all the hitman/drug smugglers/etc went to pray that God would watch over them why they took Jim, Jane, and Gorge's lives.
Sidebar: A McDonald's? First I've seen...
They put this around their guns praying that the bullet would hit the intended target.
This building was the headquarters. Work was done here and money was handled here as well. This man had over 500 properties in Colombia in the 80s. He was doing it..
What's interesting about both of the buildings is that the government refused to fix them up because any revenue generated they would have to pay taxes and give part of the revenue to the poor people of Colombia (think social enterprise).
People believe that Pablo still lives. The tour operator said that she's sure he's on an island with Marilyn Monroe, Elvis, Tupac, and a few others, lol.
A tasty chicken empanada during our break from the tour.
These planes were Pablo's when he was smuggling coccaine in and out of the country. The government keeps them, and under surveilance, as proof that they had Pablo's planes. Not sure the rationale though.
This is the house that Pablo was killed/killed himself in. There are some conflicting stories. And here's his grave!
so after a day of touring, we head back to the hostel, and I've decided that I want to move to the area closer to the nightlife. It's a bit further from the metro, but I figured it would be okay since I'd be metro'n during the day. It's pretty fancy. A bit pricy at 25K Pesos, but luxurious indeed. I hope I don't get spoiled and not want to go back to "regular" dorms.
We decided we wanted to see some good views of the city and hopped on the metro. Now Medellin has an amazing and clean metro station that takes you through most parts of town. When you get to the end of the metro, there is a cable car ride that takes you to the highest parts of the city. It's pretty darn cool!
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We get off at the top of the cable car ride and it's amazing the view. We also see this rubix cube thingy. What we learn is that it's a community center. When we saw it, we also heard good music coming from the cube. It was someone from the community teaching the kids how to breakdance. It touched my heart I tell you!
Soo the crew was soo inspired, they tried to relive their breakdancing days as well.
Then Matt was inspired to do the plank (see below). I guess it's something that people randomly do. It's pretty darn cool though, lol. I'm learning all new kinds of norms.. :-).
We get off the train and find that people are watching a silent film with spanish subtitles. This city is getting more intersting by the minute.
Last stop for tonight is dinner. They have something here called Mondongo. I ordered it thinking it was a veggie dish because it listed some spices and veggies. Yet when it came out, it looked like meat. After some finagling I learn it's pork. No eats for me. Tom and Min said it was delicious. It's a soup you add rice, cilantro, coriander, advocado, bananas, and a few other things to it and eat up.
The other thing I found interesting was the pic below is of a "smaller" portion. Ha! I ended up having the grilled chicken. I thought it would be lackluster, but it was amazing and I had leftovers. Yaay!
Well I'm beat and I'm heading to bed. Guess I'll miss the festivities of the skreets once again. Maybe tomorrow.
Closing Sidebar: At the end of this day and a little bit of yesterday, I've been pondering changing my itinerary yet again, lol! I think I'm going to travel to the tip of Colombia to enjoy fish (trout), small villages, maybe a bit of salsa! The life of a backpacker, lol.
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