El Andalous - My Return

El Andalous and Bougainvillea

My return to Sahl Hasheesh was, as usual, a bit of a jolt as events unfurled to let me know that I was back in a different culture again.

One of Esmat’s drivers was at the airport to meet me punctually, which was a relief. I’d informed Esmat that I wanted to go to the bank to change some money before going to El Andalous.

Unfortunately, my driver started insisting that I use his friend to exchange my money, which I didn’t really want to do and I didn’t really want to tell him how much money I wanted to change. But it’s hard to say no, because he made it into an issue of me not trusting him. I was definitely back in Egypt! Fortunately, it turned out that his friend could only exchange Euros or USD and then I refused the next place he took me to on the basis that the rate wasn’t good enough. So, it ended up with me not changing my money after all and just paying more taxi fare for the longer journey to the exchange places. Only I couldn’t pay the taxi, because I didn’t have any money, but fortunately I knew Esmat wouldn’t mind if I paid a few days later.

Anyway, I arrived back at El Andalous. This time I hadn’t had any apprehensions at all about returning and it had completely escaped my mind that every time I come back, something always goes wrong.

So, the first thing that went wrong was that I entered my flat only to find it hadn’t been cleaned. I rushed out, initially thinking I would have to complain to Medhat, the manager, but then realized when I saw him sitting in the reception, that to be polite I would have to shake hands and exchange niceties. This gave him enough time to apologise for the flat not being clean and to arrange for the cleaners to come straight away.

It was a bit of a nuisance because I couldn’t settle back in straight away, but I unpacked a bit, put my swimming costume on, and went to the beach for a few hours while the cleaners did their job (it’s a hard life).

When I got back to the flat, after their working hours, I discovered that my kitchen tap was now no longer working. Well, actually, it had come off completely, although they’d balanced it on in place so that it wasn’t obvious when you first come in. That’s also very typical here – they always try to cover up breakages rather than letting you know about them.

Luckily, the plumber sorted it out the very next day and gave me a new tap, but unfortunately I still didn’t have money at that point to pay him.

I was a bit horrified at seeing all the water come out in a solid brown colour when I turned on the taps in my bathroom and for my shower, but it’s like this any time when you’ve been away for a while. It’s the sand that builds up while you’re away. I let the water run for a while and it was soon back to normal. I’d just completely forgotten about that.

Another thing that I soon realized had broken in my absence was my power bank, which I use with my solar panel to charge all my appliances, including my laptop. I suspect that the power bank just got too hot when it was left in the flat with no air conditioning over the summer. It’s still under guarantee, and I’m hoping to be able to get a replacement, but it’s not going to be easy because I suspect it will have to be delivered to the UK and I’m not planning on being there for quite some time. Electricity prices have risen a lot over the last year, so I had been looking forward to using it so that it could earn some of its cost back.

Otherwise, though, it wasn’t so bad. My internet purchased at the airport worked straight away, and my phone was still able to make and receive calls. I’m always astonished that my phone sim in Egypt just keeps on functioning even after I've been away for 6 months; most other people say theirs doesn’t work after they've been away. I feel like I have a magic phone! Anyway, I’m very grateful, because I would really rather not have more hassle with my phone than need be. My return journeys are definitely slowly improving!