Chillin with Pablo

Us with Roberto Escobar at his home.

The grave of the infamous Pablo Escobar.

We arrived in Medellin and checked into another Pit Stop hostel.  This one reminded us both of a frat house, with a nice pool and a decent bar.  We arrived in the evening after a difficult taxi ride.  Apparently cab drivers struggle with English names.  After arriving we got settled in our 14 bed dorm room and quickly joined the our fellow backpackers in a hostel sponsored power hour.  We then looked for food and explored the Zona Rosa.  The young Colombian crowd was out in full force enjoying surprisingly expensive drinks.  Exhausted from our travels we called it quits fairly early and made our way to bed.  The following day we awoke early, under false direction from the receptionist, to reserve spots on a Pablo Escobar tour.  After waiting for some time in the lobby we learned from another receptionist that not only was the tour completely full, but would be leaving at noon instead of eight as we previously had thought.  To pass the time we headed over to the other part of town, which promised to have the “Big” market on Saturdays.  To our disappointment the market was a let down and we changed gears to look for an English book store.  This turned out to also be unsuccessful.  We learned that books in Colombia cost about 3 times as much as the sticker price, so we vowed to find a book exchange in the near future.  We made our way back towards the Pit Stop with intentions of finding a spot on the noon Pablo tour.  We arrived just in time to find out that the noon tour would actually be a three o’ clock tour.  Anyways we finally made it onto the tour.  The tour began with our tour bus driving by one of Pablo’s old apartments, which had been attacked by one of the many enemies of the Escobar cartel.  We then went to the Escobar family grave sight, where each of the family members were buried and an astonishing number of “business associates”.  We got back in the van and went to another side of town where we parked in front of a house where Pablo’s brother and long time accountant of the Escobar wealth was currently living.  The brother Roberto showed us around his house and told us details about Pablo and the Escobar family.  We were also shown two of Pablo’s cars and a motorcycle.  Apparently seventeen years after the death of the famous drug lord the Escobars still have enemies.  Roberto showed us where just eight days before our tour men had broken into the home and shot a few walls and windows in the living room.  According to Roberto the police showed up and all of the men were shot dead on the spot.  We went back to the hostel and prepared for Saturday night in Medellin. 

Medellin v. Cali soccer game.

Pit Stop Hostel-Medellin.

Crazy Medellin fans.

We cooked fajitas for dinner and enjoyed some beers with our meal.  Cooking for ourselves has proven to be a much cheaper alternative, although the hostel kitchens leave much to be desired.  While shopping for dinner at our new favorite store, Exito (South America’s Fred Meyer’s), we purchased a bottle of the local rum and a bottle of Coke.  A pint of rum in the stores costs around $12,000 Colombian Pesos, while at the clubs as we later found out costs $40,000.  Keep in mind the exchange rate is around $1800 Colombian Pesos to $1 American Dollar.  After dinner we met with our new American friend Jeff and some of the Irish girls who were on the Pablo tour with us and had some drinks in the hostel bar.  A pint of rum goes fast between two people, so we finished up at the hostel bar with a few beers.  We all then decided to venture out of the hostel and to the Zona Rosa.  We had heard about a few fun clubs, all having the names of one syllable English colors, so we checked one out, not surprisingly named Blue.  The cover was $10,000, the drinks were expensive, the music was loud, and the Colombians were having a good time.  We ventured home around 2 AM and made our way to bed.  The next day we woke up and met up with a group of fellow American guys and headed to the Medellin VS. Cali soccer game.  After much confusion we finally made it to the correct gate and entered the game just after kick off.  Unknowing to us the game had significant history to the Medellin fans.  Their team had not beaten Cali on their home turf in many years.  The game ended with a 2-0 win for Medellin and as you can imagine the locals partook in some herbal-enhanced fiestas. We were wrong in assuming that cocaine would be the only drug of choice for the Colombianos. Marijuana consumption was in full force at the game. Sitting in the stands surrounded my inebriated Medellin fans smoking more joints than cigarettes, we realized that the Colombian police must have better things to worry about than busting an entire stadium full of really high fans (Don't worry mom, we were only observers). Celebrations carried on after the game and probably well  into the night.  We made our departure from the game before things got too crazy and made some grilled cheese for dinner.  The rest of the night was spent relaxing in the hostel TV room.

Our last day in Medellin was spent hanging out by the pool, exchanging traveling stories with our American friend Jeff.  We decided to enjoy some hot wings at the Medellin Hooters, which was a fail.  The service was almost as bad as the food.  We’ve learned pretty quick that getting an order right in South America is nearly impossible.  Typical Colombian food is usually a pretty sure bet, straying from this can be a gamble though.  After some disappointing wings we headed back and prepared for our flight from Medellin to Baranquilla.