In 1963, at the age of 13, Escobar went to work on a farm. The farm is located in a deep mountain forest and is mainly used for coca. Thirteen-year-old Escobar arrives here and digs up the land every day, just like the adults, to reclaim piece after piece of wasteland for his boss and plant coca seedlings. All day long, tired and sore back.
Escobar spent five years on the farm. During these five years, his only gain was to learn how to grow coca, how to prune coca, and how to bake coca leaves over fire. Whenever he was tired, he, like everyone else, chewed on those bitter coca leaves, and at this time, a strange feeling made him forget his fatigue for a while. At that time, he never imagined that his life would be indissoluble with such bitter leaves.
At the age of 18, Escobar left the farm. When he walked out of the mountains and forests where he had been in the mountains for five years and returned to his dilapidated home, his mother barely recognized him. Strangely, five years of life turned 18-year-old Escobar into a tall man. Because of the climate and sunshine in the mountains and forests, his face became as shiny as ivory. With his long curly hair naturally scattered over the huge head, and with his upright features, he looked a lot like a music college student.
However, Escobar's poor family situation kept him from the university's music department, and he never even dreamed of it. His only thought at the time was how to get some money, to sit in the tavern in town, to taste the taste of service, or to buy a decent dress. From then on, Escobar, who had nothing to do, spent his days wandering around the town, a squalid street and a few shabby shops becoming the best place for him to spend his time.
One day, there were several beautiful cars in town, and behind them was a truck with a coffin on it, and around the coffin was a wreath and all kinds of banners. It turned out that one of the owners of the town, who had owned several factories in Medellín, had died, and his son had brought his body to his hometown for burial.
After the convoy stopped, many people came to see the excitement, and Escobar was standing there. At this time, he really hated those who had money in his heart, and he would have to be so arrogant after he died.
At this moment, a large hand suddenly reached out from behind and slapped him on the shoulder.
"Hey, man, what's standing here in a daze?"
Escobar was startled and looked back to see that it was Jorge Ochoa, who had also worked on the farm a few years earlier.
Ochoa is a few years older than Escobar, a native of Medellín. When he was 18 years old, he got into a fight with someone, accidentally injured a person, and then crossed the Cordillera Mountains overnight and hid in the deep mountain town of Envega. This man is quick-witted and ruthless, and has seen some of the world in Medellín, and dares to act in the face of problems. His biggest characteristic is that he is good at making money, and he can find a way to make money no matter where he is.
After escaping to Envega, he went to the farm to grow coca without any relatives. In Escobar's third year on the farm, Ochoa said goodbye. It turned out that when the boss asked him to escort the coca seedlings a few days ago, he actually sold half a cart of coca seedlings in Envega to another coca merchant. When he escorted half a cart of coca seedlings back to the farm, he lied to his boss that he had been robbed on the way. At this time, he also pointed to several self-inflicted wounds on his arms and told his boss how he fought the robbers.
The boss was very appreciative of him at the time, and instead of blaming him, he gave him 20 pesos to go to the treatment of his injuries. Because at that time, coca was grown everywhere in the Cordillera Mountains of Colombia, and coca seedlings were in short supply, and such robberies were common. Some people plant coca seedlings during the day, but at night, they are gone, and they are plucked out. So, the boss believed Ochoa's lies.
With half of the coca seedlings brought in, many of the barren slopes were empty. Ten days later, the boss sent Ochoa to escort the coca seedlings and sent Escobar with him.
It was the same truck in the town of Enviga that was transporting the coca seedlings, and it was the same driver who drove it, and last time, he teamed up with Ochoa to get a handful. This time, when he arrived in Envega with a cart full of coca seedlings, he parked his car at a small roadside shop to eat. Then the driver said to Ochoa:
"Man, how about this time, I have another buyer, and the price is better than last time."
Ochoa glanced at Escobar, who was sitting on the side, and said to him, "Pablo, do you hear what this guy is saying?" ”
Escobar thought about the last time Ochoa was robbed, and of course he understood it in his heart. So, he pretended to be confused very cleverly and said, "Big brother, I don't know what he said. Let's eat and hurry. ”
At this time, the driver realized that he had lost his words, so he smiled and said, "I think this little brother is also a clever person, and there will be nothing wrong, so let's take it lightly." ”
Ochoa thought about it for a moment, then nodded.
This time, they unloaded a total of 50 bundles of coca seedlings from the car, and the driver hid them in the old place before driving with them to the farm.
Due to the small number of thefts this time, the boss did not find out at the time. However, a few days later, the boss still found the flaw, because there were still more than 10 hectares of hillside in his budget that had not been planted. At this time, the boss suspected that Ochoa had done something on the road, and even had doubts about the last "robbery", so he went to Escobar.
When Escobar was called by his boss, Ochoa was nervous for a while. But it wasn't long before Escobar came back like nothing, still chewing a coca leaf in his mouth as he went. Afterwards, nothing happened, and Ochoa slowly got better and better for Escobar, treating him like a little brother, and he knew that he was a trustworthy lad.
In the fall of that year, Ochoa abruptly left the farm. However, on the third night after his departure, the farm's warehouse where coca leaves were stored was stolen, and more than 60 bags of dried coca leaves were stolen at once.
Escobar never heard from Ochoa again. Two years later, when he returned to Enviga from that farm deep in the mountains, he learned that Ochoa had not returned to Medellín, but had opened a restaurant in Enviga, and that he was already a decent little owner.
At this time, Escobar was slapped hard by Ochoa, and he realized that he was standing in front of his hotel unconsciously. He looked at Ochoa's fat face, which had already been fat, smiled, and said, "Dude, you can do this when you die." ”
Ochoa also smiled and said, "It's still far from that day, let's take care of it now, come, go in and sit!" ”
As he spoke, he pulled Escobar into his hotel.
On the night of the third day, something happened in the isolated town of Enviga, which had not happened for a long time - the tombstone of the boss who had just been buried was stolen only a day after it was erected.
It was a white jade tombstone nearly 2 meters high, which his son bought from Bogotá, the distant capital of Colombia, for 3,000 pesos, and paid nearly 1,000 pesos to have the elaborate patterns and inscriptions carved on it.
Where did this tombstone go?
It turned out to be tucked away in the big wine cellar in the backyard of Ochoa's hotel.
Since then, there have been more and more tombstones in this large cellar, both white jade and granite, all of which are some of the more precious stones in the local area. People here also have an oriental custom of erecting a tall and large tombstone in front of the tomb after death, engraved with ancient and auspicious patterns and some inscriptions that praise virtue, in order to immortalize in this way. Therefore, tombstones have become a very popular necessity here, and many people often "plan ahead" very early in order to find a tombstone for their parents or themselves.
So, the shrewd Ochoa took a fancy to this way of making money, and teamed up with this trustworthy little brother to do this kind of thing. In addition to Escobar, he had several men under his command who, after stealing the tombstone, hid it in his cellar, polished it off the patterns and inscriptions, and then secretly transported it to the provincial capital Medellín to be re-marketed.
Ochoa became acquainted with the owner of a grocery store in his hometown of Medellín, which, in addition to selling his stolen tombstones, also sold some funerary goods stolen from the coffin, including ancient bronze, tin, porcelain, and wine vessels, and of course, decent and expensive shrouds, hats, and leather shoes. All of this was an unexpected gain from Escobar and Ochoa's men when they stole the tombstones. Anyway, the tomb has already been opened, so I just don't do it. Sometimes the price of these things is often several times or dozens of times that of a heavy tombstone.
After a year or two, Escobar began to have a lot of pesos in his pocket. At this point, he was no longer content with drinking the strong local chicha in Ochoa's restaurant, but went to some dimly lit pub to drink American Cordon Bleu and French wine from Panama. Not only is it not as bitter and hot as the Chicha, but it is delirious when you drink it, but more importantly, there are some beautiful and sexy escorts in the well-decorated bars. Their towering breasts are firm and stiff, and they are often a great accompaniment to a snack. If you're generous, these women from Brazil or Mexico will join you in the box.
At this time, Escobar was already 20 years old, he knew exactly what a woman was, and he needed a woman very much, and he didn't want to be alone in the long sweltering night, tossing and turning, squeaking the bed board.