Mikko Niiles, a Finnish press officer. Another Finnish officer on the pine benches ladles water onto a burning hot stove with obvious pleasure. The soldiers speak in praise of the sauna and recall the sauna diplomacy reputedly practiced by one Finnish statesman, who turned up the heat in a sauna meeting with a Soviet president to make sure Helsinki's point of view was understood. But this does not seem to worry the Finnish soldiers. The high temperature and humidity opens the skin's pores to let dirt escape and allows blood to flow more quickly around the body.
Finnish peacekeepers visit the sauna almost every day.
Troops from other nations with a sauna culture such as Norway and Sweden have also visited the camp to take advantage of the facilities, but locals have been more cautious. The soldiers have heard tell that a group of interpreters who went into the sauna with a reconnaissance patrol found it a bit too hot to handle. The precise origins of saunas are something of a mystery, Niiles said. They were used centuries ago by both American Indians and Scandinavians, but the Finns are the undisputed modern kings of the sauna and they are proud of it. Finland has around 2 million saunas for its population of 5 million.