If you are a Facebook friend you already know why I chose to start my blog in Columbia, but you still might be asking yourself “Why is he going anywhere near Medellin? Isn’t that the drug and crime capital of Columbia?” Well, it was at one time, but not any more. Pablo Escobar’s Medellin cartel once controlled the city from top to bottom. Local police, judges, other elected officials, and wealthy businessmen were bought or killed by Escobar and his henchmen.The cartel’s sale of cocaine and other drugs had made Escobar a multi billionaire, and he made many friends among Medellin’s movers and shakers by spreading his money around. He even managed to get himself elected to the Chamber of Representatives of Columbia as the representative for Medellin for a time. Those he couldn’t buy he had murdered. When the Columbian Supreme Court was reviewing the constitutionality of a law that would allow Columbian citizens to be extradited to the United States, Escobar paid a local terrorist group, M19, to mount an armed attack on the court building and burn the records and evidence of wrongdoing for all who were being considered for extradition. Escobar was one of those people. After they were finally driven out, and half of the Supreme Court judges had been killed, the extradition law was repealed. Escobar also paid to have a Minister of Justice killed, and on the recommendation of another Columbian politician, Alberto Santofimio, had a presidential candidate assassinated. I wouldn’t be visiting Medellin today if the situation there were still the same.

In the early 1990’s Escobar had become so powerful that it took the joint efforts of the Columbian government, our D.E.A., Seal Team 6, our Delta Force, and a vigilante group, “Los Pepes” (People Persecuted by Pablo) that was funded by the rival Cali drug cartel to break Escobar’s hold on the country. Over several years these groups managed to kill or arrest a large part of the cartel’s membership and enablers. Escobar, himself, however, managed to remain at large after escaping from a luxurious prison that was built specifically for him. He found it too constricting even though it included extensive gardens and a swimming pool. Admittedly, it was a step down from Escobar’s previous home, Hacienda Napoles, that included a full size soccer field, a bull fighting ring, and a private zoo. (While most of the animals were removed after Escobar’s down fall, a pair of hippopotami escaped that have bred to produce a herd of 40 that have become a dangerous nuisance to local farmers). At Hacienda Napoles Escobar didn’t try to hide his connection to drug trafficking. He placed the plane he used for his first drug run to the US atop his front gate.

He was finally tracked down and killed along with his body guard in 1993, just a few blocks from where I am currently sitting. After his death the control of the drug trade first moved to Cali, and later dispersed to various quiet locations in South and Central America. Despite the fact that Escobar had many people murdered and was considered public enemy number one at the time of his death, twenty five thousand of Medellin’s residents attended his funeral. Why so many would attend a religious ritual for a man who violated nearly all of that religion’s commandments seems to fall beyond the bounds of reason. The thread that holds these conflicting elements together is – Surprise, Surprise – money. As a legislator, Escobar made sure that large sums of government money were spent in Medellin, and as a drug lord, he dumped massive amounts of dark money into the local economy in the form or loans, salaries, or outright bribes. That money has probably helped make Medellin the bustling place it is today. When Escobar went down, many of those who took his money felt that it would be a lot safer to earn a living from more legitimate endeavors. While some of that money bought condos in Miami, much of it was used to build condos, apartments, restaurants, and other businesses in Medellin itself. As a result, the core of Medellin is one of the most modern and prosperous cities in South America.

Although Escobar died more than a generation ago, and most of the corrupt police and politicians had been removed from power soon after, (though, Alberto Santofimio, Escobar’s partner in the assassination of the presidential candidate wasn’t finally sent to jail until 2011), Americans and Europeans are still afraid to rent or buy Medellin’s many new condos and apartments. As a result, many lie vacant and rents are a bargain. Why am I staying in Medellin? I stay because the city is no more dangerous than any large city in the United States, and I can rent a posh apartment with a roof top deck, WiFi, cable TV, a balcony overlooking the city, and manned 24 hour security for less per month than what it would cost to heat my old farmhouse in upstate New York for the same period of time that I will be in Medellin. My Medellin apartment building also houses a restaurant that will make room service deliveries if I’m too lazy to cook.

While the safety and economy of Medellin provide a good reason for not avoiding it this winter, they don’t provide a good reason for choosing it over the many other safe and inexpensive retreats that exist around the world. For example, Bali is pretty nice in January, and can be inexpensive if you live simply, as is Malta. I chose Medellin instead because it’s but a short plane ride from home, and unlike Bali or Malta, it offers the kind of climate I thrive in. I was born and raised in country that is usually cool and green when it is not covered in snow. I don’t like hot and dry climates, and find sitting on a beach to be incredibly boring. Medellin offers a cool and green respite 365 days out of the year. The center of the city sits at about 5000 feet above sea level with its suburbs rising even higher up the sides of the Andes that surround it. Medellin claims to possess a climate of “eternal spring”, with the temperature rarely rising or falling out of the upper 60’s to the mid 70’s. Of course Medellin is not the only city in South America that claims to offer “eternal spring”. All the high altitude cities of the Andes cordillera, Bogota, Quito, Cali, and Cuenca claim the same title, but Medellin offers the nicest accommodations for the least amount of money right now.

Stay tuned: I’m going to look around Medellin for the next week or so and will describe what I see in chapter 2.

(Since I haven’t had time to take my own pictures, the photos of my apartment are courtesy of AIRBNB, and the photo of Escobar’s safe house was taken from a local news article.)