Abandoned Villas Reportedly Linked to Pablo Escobar, Islas del Rosario, by 2012

**chris** · #1 ● 10-02-2012, 04:33 PM

By 2012, Belgian photographer Stefaan Beernaert had photographed a collection of abandoned villas in the Islas del Rosario, about 35 kilometers off Cartagena, Colombia. The properties were reported to have served as holiday retreats for Pablo Escobar and his associates, although accounts differ over whether Escobar owned an island or villa there. They were said to have been left to decay after his death in 1993.

The photographs show small developed islets, domed concrete villas, a thatched lookout hut, a coral-and-stone house and a large white mansion with arcades and a drained swimming pool. Inside are pastel rooms, porthole windows, ship-style hatches, a blue-tiled bathroom and a white pedestal chair. Other views show roofless shells, a collapsed gazebo and a wild pig in the mansion courtyard. Some of the buildings were converted into hostels around 2015.