A Christian enclave proud of its pork confronts a proposal to attract Muslim tourists
LAKE TOBA, Indonesia - The ground still occasionally trembles here, a reminder of the active volcano below that last erupted 75,000 years ago and blasted a crater out of the earth the size of Los Angeles.
The violent explosion, which triggered a global volcanic winter, formed a natural wonder - a massive oval lake ringed by steep mountains and filled in the center with a verdant island that's lured adventurous travelers to this remote part of Sumatra for decades.
But Lake Toba has seen better days. Its local tourist industry has struggled since the 1997 Asian financial crisis and 2002 Bali bombing. The sinking last year of a ferry that drowned more than 160 passengers in the lake's deep waters delivered another major blow.
It was against this backdrop that Edy Rahmayadi, the provincial governor of North Sumatra, proposed reviving the area
