Trip To Medellin - Main Page
DXing in Medellin
Read about my DXing & download some SDR-IQ files to hear what the MW and some SW bands sound like in the Medellin area.
Hacienda Napoles
Pablo Escobar's Estate
Pablo Escobar was the kingpin of the infamous Medellin Drug Cartel. At its height, he was estimated to be the seventh richest man in the world. He had a huge estate in the lowlands of the Magdelena valley, just outside the down of Doradal, about 20 km from Rio Claro. After he was killed by the military in 1993, the estate was abandoned and fell to ruins. Even his extensive classic car collection was left out in the weather to fall apart. The government now owns the land. In one corner a huge maximum security prison has been built. It mostly houses drug dealers and captured leftist guerrillas.
The heart of the Napoles estate is about 2 km away. The government is working with a private company to turn this into a theme park.
Entrance to the park -
Welcome To The True Savage Adventure
Escobar used his money to illegally import all types of exotic animals from the around the world. While most died off after his death, his hippopotamus collection thrived and became a problem in the area. They were eventually rounded up and placed in a one kilometer long artificial lake in the park. The lake is surrounded about a very strong electric fence to keep them in. Today there are about 50 animals and the park is home to the only hippo herd outside of Africa.
The private investors are building a dinosaur kiddie theme park.
This is where myth and reality mix. About ten years ago one of the big Colombian TV networks did a lenghty telenovela (drama series) about a fictitious drug lord, but heavily based on Pablo Escobar's life. It was filmed at another large estate next to Napoles. In the TV series, the drug lord had a secret underwater bunker which was entered through a Hogan's-Heroes like tree stump entry. (Americans my age will understand the reference.) There wasn't a real underwater bunker - that was a studio - but they did build the entrance next to one of the small artificial lakes on Napoles. But, today some people think Escobar really did have an underwater bunker. Thus myth and reality mix and eventually we get legend.
The big attraction at Napoles is the ruins of Pablo Escobar's house. It's now a museum telling the story of how he terrorized Colombia for two decades. 
The museum's message is that crime doesn't pay - or The Government Triumphed.
Escobar had a fascination with criminals and gangsters around the world. On one side he is playing Mexican bandito. On the other he is dead. (His car collection included the same model that Bonnie and Clyde were killed in and a model of John Dillinger's favorite getaway car.)
Funeral for some of Escobar's victims.
One of several memorials to police officers killed by Escobar's men.
In one case, hundreds of people who had been living in a garbage dump had their first real house built and given to them by Escobar. This couple is one of those and they consider Escobar to be like a saint.
The garage behind the house.
Escobar had a helicopter landing pad next to his house. In the distance is part of his private airplane runway.
His dead body being identified by his mother - who buried him as a hero.
