El Andalous - Troubles in Paradise

Troublesome Owners!

I feel extremely lucky to be here. Even though I’m not massively wealthy, I have the privilege of living somewhere that’s sunny (we actually have a heatwave just now – apparently 40 degrees on Saturday!), I can walk along the promenade by the beach, sit on my swinging chair on my balcony, be living in a compound where there are no instances of coronavirus.

But there’s no such thing as paradise! As everywhere, there are people flouting regulations, rising anxiety, frustration at regulations (in particular, not being allowed to swim in the sea). There are several issues in El Andalous (and there are always issues, because it’s human nature never to be completely happy, always to find something that could maybe be [even] better).

Firstly, a lot of us have been complaining about seeing new people coming into El Andalous when short-term lets are banned. Each new person poses a new threat of coronavirus. We all get quite antsy about this. Emails have been sent to the resort management, people have argued with our manager. It seems that a lot of owners who are usually based in Cairo or Hurghada, or elsewhere, have moved into Sahl Hasheesh as a safe haven. Thus, we cannot stop these new people from coming.

Secondly, there are a lot more children about now and the parents don’t seem to have much control over them. I’m on the pool side, but if you’re on the sea view side, there’s a green area just below. Despite curfew, around twenty people are gathering at night, mostly children, and the children are running and screaming until past midnight. This is despite the fact that there’s curfew from 9pm. Again, emails have been sent off to the resort management, but nothing’s changed (so far). On my side (pool side), I’ve heard children screaming on the balconies at midnight on occasion. Having said that, it seems to have stopped now. The first time, I got out of bed and gave a quiet shout (if that makes sense) of “be quiet!” and indeed, the child was immediately brought inside. It’s hard to know what to do, because sometimes shouting at someone to be quiet is more noisy and annoying than the original noise (this is what I’ve found in the past). So that’s what I mean by a “quiet shout”.

Thirdly: All mosques have been closed for Ramadan (and even before then). So what happens? The locals open up one of the disused shops and use it as a pop-up mosque. Crowds gather in there for their prayers. The rest of us worry that one of them will get coronavirus and before we know it, the whole resort will be infected.

Fourthly, when I first arrived in Sahl Hasheesh, more than six years ago now, a major issue was that new flats had been built on the roof of our building. This was particularly annoying for those who had bought the top floor flats (and paid more for them) for, in part, the privilege of not having an upstairs neighbor. But there was nothing we could do. The owners of the new flats were the people who built the entire building and still own it (don’t ask me how!). Anyway, these owners have now also decided to come to Sahl Hasheesh to live while the pandemic is on and they’ve brought their children with them. The children are playing on the roof in the early hours of the morning, throwing things down onto the balconies below (not just rubbish, but big things like parts of a grill that could cause serious damage if they hit someone). Again, lots of complaints have been made, but actually there’s nothing we can do.

Nevertheless, I still feel fortunate and blessed to be here. If I hadn’t left work, I’d have been “stranded” in Switzerland, where lockdown has been greater and the spread of the disease worse (so far). It’s a joy to feel the sun on my skin, see the many blues of the sea, and to enjoy the shade and breeze of my fan on my balcony.