Pablo Escobar, Guatape, Colombia

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Vacation Home of Pablo Escobar

One of my many passions is international travel! I have been fortunate to travel extensively in my adult life and am currently at 47 countries. A few years back I was lucky enough to go to Colombia for the first time.  It is a truly amazing country and one I would highly recommend to anyone.  The people are very nice, it's inexpensive by American standards, the food is delicious and there is so much to see.

We were able to spend a few days in a little town called Guatape.  It's a small resort town a couple hours outside of Medellin.   Not only is it a very cool little town that the Colombians go to for their holiday, but there are amazing sites as well.

We started our day with a spectacular paraglide adventure over the Valley of Cocorna.  We booked our trip via the Lakeview Hostel.  It was about a two-hour drive to the spot where we launched, and oh what a ride!  More on that later.

After we landed safely, we were off to the El Peñon de Guatape.  A massive 650 ft boulder that is sure to get anyone's heart racing!   The views are spectacular and it was well worth the climb.  And yes, you can get a beer at the top!

But by far, the best thing we did that day was go to the ruins of one of Pablo Escobar's vacation homes. The sense of energy there was amazing, at least to me. You could almost see him sitting around the pool with all kinds of people running around as he smoked another joint.

What was left of the burnt and bombed-out home was perched on a small peninsula, so they had a perfect view from all sides of anyone approaching.  They even had a 'lookout' tower, which I can only assume was heavily fortified.

I think what made this 'history' more appealing to me, is that it happened within my lifetime, not 30 years ago and there was definitely still an intensity there like I've never felt. Pablo was certainly a brutal, murderous drug kingpin, but the mark he left on the country there will not soon be forgotten.

It's one of those travel experiences I will never forget and one I would also highly recommend!