Sarajevo, Bosnia-Herzegovina

Yesterday (Tuesday) I went to the Tunnel Museum here in Sarajevo. As you probably know, Sarajevo was under seige for almost four years (1992-1995). The city was completely surrounded by Serb artillery, except for one small corridor that was controlled by the UN. While the UN allowed humanitarian aide into Sarajevo, they did not allow weapons into the city, effectively preventing the citizens from defending themselves from the Serb's campaign of ethnic cleansing (read: genocide). In order to circumvent this blockade, the Bosnians dug a tunnel under the airport by which they brought weapons into the city and spirited civilians out of the city. That tunnel (one kilometer long, one meter wide, and one and a half meters tall) has now been turned into a museum. Much like the Herzegovina Museum in Mostar, the highlight of this museum was its video portraying life in Sarajevo under seige. Indescribable horror. In a city of 400,000 inhabitants, over 11,000 people were killed during the seige, mostly as a result of indescriminate Serb shelling.

After leaving the museum I visited the old Jewish cemetary, from whence the seige began and the snipers sniped at "sniper alley". Most of the tombstones in the cemetary still bear scars from the war, but the synogogue has been beautifully restored, and the restoration of the cemetary is scheduled to begin this summer.

By midafternoon the sun was finally shining after more than a week of non-stop rain. I took advantage of the opportunity to head up onto one of the many mountains surrounding the city. The setting is, to say the least, idyllic, and it is very difficult to imagine the horror that reigned here so recently.

As the sun set last night, the rains returned. I spent the evening talking with Skander, the son of Salem, the owner of my hostel. He made some interesting observations about Bosnian Islam. He estimated that 50% of Bosnian Muslims do not practice Islam in any way whatsoever. He estimated that another 25% go to the Mosque on Fridays and fast during Ramadan, but otherwise ignore the teachings of Islam (especially the prohibition on alcohol and the obligation to pray five times a day). He said that the remaining 25% really try to follow sharia (Islamic law), but he made it sound like most of them fail (especially regarding the prohibition on alcohol and the obligation to pray five times a day). Skander is a member of this latter 25%, and while he never drinks, he also rarely prays. He was absolutely stunned that I had read the Qur'an during my trip (I began reading it in Madrid and only finished reading it in Mostar -- partly because it is no page-turner, and partly because I wanted to take my time and really think about what I was reading and discuss it with Muslims along the way). He was absolutely convinced of the indisputable truth of this book, but looked upon reading it as some kind of daunting task. I must admit, it was kind of a drag. This God fellow really needs to take that "Creative Non-fiction" writing course taught by the Buddha Known as.

It is cold and rainy again today. I will be leaving Sarajevo by train tonight, arriving in Budapest sometime tomorrow morning. I will try to make one more posting before returning home to Honolulu next week.

I want to thank everyone for all the loving support I've received during this trip, both through your comments on the blog and the many personal e-mails you've sent. Traveling alone isn't always easy, and your kind words helped me through the day on more than one occasion. I must admit that I considered abandoning this blog several times, but in the end, I'm glad I stuck with it. And I'm glad that you've stuck with me!!!

YOU ROCK!!!

(Photo by Eric: Sarajevo, Bosnia-Herzegovina)