Medellin is synonymous with the name Pablo Escobar, it’s un-deniable. Pablo Escobar also known as “The King of Cocaine” was a Colombian born drug kingpin, who had a peak net worth of $30 billion dollars during his lifetime. He ran the infamous drug trafficker, smuggler, and racketeer who ran the Medellin Drug Cartel. At its height, the Medellin carel controlled 80% of the world’s cocaine market. He was eventually imprisoned, but continued to run the Medellin Cartel from inside. Using his connections, he escaped in 1992, and remained in hiding until he was shot and killed in 1993.
After going though many documentaries and books about Pablo’s life, my first interest reaching Medellin was to visit El Patron’s grave. If you’re fascinated with the underworld like I am, you would head the same direction.
Most of the tours would quote you $40 for Escobar’s tour but as I was on a budget, I did some of it myself. The easiest way to visit Pablo’s grave is by taking a train. Train system in Medellin is very clean and easy to use. The roundtrip ticket would cost you C$4000 ($1.80). You need to take Line A towards La Estrella and get off at Sabaneta. When you exit the station, there are signs pointing to Cemetery direction, it’s about two blocks away. Once you’re there ask anyone and they will point you to the right direction. If you take a formal tour, I’m sure it will include a lot more then just visiting cemetery, but remember you can use google and find other Pablo related places not paying a dime.
Here lies Pablo Escobar
So, I’m not going to lie, that was most exciting part of visiting Medellin for me. Otherwise, going up with a cable car was cool too. Get to metro stop San Javier on the orange line and using same ticket go on a little ride to see the town from high up. 
Accommodation wise, there is many options on hostel world but cheapest and surprisingly super nice one I found was Zen Hostel. It’s fairly new, so doesn’t have many reviews but I’m the living proof. close to everything and dirt cheap comparing to other options. Dorms quote for C$20,000/night, privates C$40,000, but negotiate! As doing that we got double room with private bathroom for C$30,000/night.
Off to visit La Piedra and Guatape tomorrow. Wish me luck climbing those 740 stairs!
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