Tuesday, September 9, 2008

Bobsled

I am looking at the skeleton of the bobsled from the 1984 Winter Olympics. It was built in 1982 and cost 12 million dollars to build. It is completely destroyed. The Serbian forces used it as protection and made holes in it to point their guns and shoot at the Bosnians. Haris warned us to stay only on the pavement because there were still active mines all over the woods.

35% percent of Bosnian land still has mines, which are basically around the mountains and in outside rural parts of Sarajevo. No one knows exactly where the mines are, but the military detenates bombs on a daily basis. I heard one go off in the distance and saw smoke rising upwards. A Bosnian man saw me jump after the loud explosion that echoed down the mountain. He said it was the military who were "safely" setting them off. They use dogs to detect the mines.

The city itself is clear of mines, but I still feel uneasy walking past construction sites or areas with vegetation.

Sarajevo

Today is my Dad's birthday and I am in Sarajevo. I went on a bus tour around the city. Haris is our tour guide and the owner of the hostel. He is 21 and opened the hostel when he was only 15. We are driving around in his old white van. The flooring in the van is plastic wood, the same material zou would see in a kitchen. Haris is a good representative of the Bosnian people. He is verz friendlz, hospitable, and verz nationalistic. The radio is playing a Bosnian pop song, which sounds like Leonard Cohen with a calypso beat and is about the war. We are driving to the tunnel museum in the suburban part of town. Even out here you can see the frames of bombed buildings and houses.

11,000 people were killed during the 4 years of being under seige. A tunnel was made under ground connecting to the airport. This was the only entrance/exit to the citz. The tunnel saved the city since Bosnia was attacked right after they became an independent countrz and didn't have a militarz. Serbian forces knew of the tunnel, but couldn't see it because it was underground. The tunnel itself was 875 zards long.
It took volunteers about 4 months to complete it and became the onlz way to export and import everzthing from food, medicine, homemade guns, oil, and electricitz. After the war ended the Kotar family (who owned the propertz) made it into a museum.