El Andalous - Welcome Back

El Andalous from Refurbished Pier

My flight back was fine and it arrived on time. I’d been too busy getting my visa for St Petersburg to get my visa in advance for Egypt, so I had to buy my entry visa at the airport. Fortunately, I had some US dollars (USD) left from my cruise last year, so was able to pay for the visa using that (it’s simpler, since the Egyptians price the visa in USD). They were announcing the visa price in various currencies over the loudspeaker; I’m hoping this is in part to stop people from being conned into paying more than they have to (this has happened to friends of mine before).

Anyway, for me it was smooth. There was no queue as I was one of the first out and my luggage arrived safely. I have my routine off pat now, so I exited customs and went to buy my internet package at the counter at the airport. It’s very handy and I noticed that this time there are also Etisalat and Orange kiosks as well as Vodafone.

Unfortunately, again, my taxi wasn’t waiting for me. My internet doesn’t kick in until an hour afterwards and my phone wasn’t working, so I had no way to contact Esmat. After 15 minutes, I decided to get an airport taxi. This time, I knew the prices were on the board, so when the taxi driver said it cost 400 LE, I went to the board and showed them that it should be 150 LE (there’s no messing with me, I thought!).

However, they explained that the board was very old and prices had gone up since. I knew this to be true and I didn’t even know what Esmat charges now, so I felt a bit lost. I negotiated him down to 300 LE (which was probably a bit much, but as the driver explained on the way – he was actually very nice – when he gets back to the airport he’s last in the taxi queue and he needs to make a living). I was happy enough and I really just wanted to get home.

I entered my flat and it hadn’t been cleaned. I went down to see Medhat, and he explained that I hadn’t given enough notice as I’d only emailed the evening before (this is true, and I had wondered if I was chancing it; if I do it too much in advance, I’m scared they’ll forget). Anyway, they did it for me pretty much straightaway – they were just finishing off another flat first.

I wandered off to BestWay to get my food shopping while they cleaned; I was still wearing my jeans from the flight. My legs don’t usually feel hot or cold, but in that heat, they were soon pretty damp with sweat. I dropped the shopping off in my flat, but the cleaners were still working so I went out for an iced coffee in a local café. I can’t really complain since my life is really very civilized (when you have money, of course, and for that I’m grateful).

Finally, the cleaners had finished. I was amused to see that they’d organized my balcony furniture differently from how I usually have it (they weren’t to know, since I bring in the cushions and drag the furniture to where there is not much sun while I’m gone). I haven’t bothered to put it back yet as it looks quite nice how they have it but is perhaps not as practical if I have guests.

The first night we had a power cut. It’s still so hot at the moment that I need the air conditioning on to cool down and then the fan to keep the air cool while I’m asleep. With the power cut, my fan stopped working and I woke feeling too hot. I have a small USB fan, so I thought I could fetch that to keep myself from sweltering, but then I realized that I didn’t know where the cleaners had put my solar light and it was pitch black. I ended up having to strike a match, since they were where I expected them to be, and light a candle in order to find the solar-charged light (and then to use that to find the USB fan). The joys of being back!

I still wouldn’t swap it for anywhere else, though!