There was a time not too long ago when merely being
an American guaranteed a warm reception whether
you were traveling to Tijuana or Timbuktu. Now
when we think about destinations, we think in terms
of where bad things are likely to happen, and where they
likely won’t.
Using that unfortunate guideline, Yemen should be near
the top of no-go lists, just behind Lebanon.
Yemen, homeland of the bin Laden family, is rated a
high-risk destination
by people
who keep
track of that
sort of thing.
And of course,
the bombing of
the USS Cole in
Aden in 2000
killed 17 U.S.
sailors, presaging
the Sept.
11, 2001,
attacks. The
State Department
extended
a travel warning
for the
country in April after 23 convicted Islamic fundamentalists
escaped from prison in February, though many have since
been recaptured.
The reality seems far less dire.
Sana’a, the capital, is the most exotic place I’ve visited: a
place where metastasizing modernity hasn’t swept away the
storybook magic. Where good-humored merchants lure you
into tiny chambers along the tunnel-like inner sanctums of the Old City bazaar. Where waiters
walk around teahouses swinging smoking
incense braziers. Where you stand
on the rooftops and listen to a real
muezzin you can actually see chanting
the call to prayer on the minaret a few
yards away.