Friday
Dear Elsie,
Sometimes you go places and don’t expect much and then you get a big surprise when you find some good thing about it. That’s what happened today is Safaga, Egypt. We arrived to a majestic sunrise.
I’m sad to say that Egypt altogether is a bit run down and lacking in finished buildings. Every city and town we have gone to or passed through seems to have buildings that are really badly built. Safaga is no different. Today we docked here and then went on a coach tour through to Hurghada, a coastal town an hour north. We had been to Hurghada before as well when we went to Egypt in 2019/2020. We swam in the Red Sea…this was 4th January 2020…
Today we went to a different beach in Hurghada and the biggest surprise that welcomed me were the FISH! There were little outcrops of coral and as I swam, I saw loads of fish in the most amazing array of colours. There were black fish and multi-coloured fish – fish that were green and purple and amazingly smart looking fish. The smart ones were the ones that got my attention They were corporate fish – they looked like they were going to the office. They had pin striped bodies with blue outlines to their tails and orange under their fins. I found out they are surgeon fish. There is a website that has documented most of the fish in the Red Sea and they posted these photos…there were lots of surgeon fish.
And there was this weird one as well. It was nudging the ocean floor with the side of its mouth. It’s called a broomtail wrasse.
Very peculiar. It was a different world down there! I was so excited. I did a fair bit of swimming and in the process I got STUNG! This time there was something on a rope that was in the sea. I swam under it and my back touched the rope & I immediately felt something scratch the area over my left shoulder blade. It was very uncomfortable – worse than when I’m stung by itchy things in Fish Hoek. This was painful. I carried on swimming and had a wonderful time – I swam out to this boat which was called Scorpio…
Meantime, Granpa had a swim and then spent his time enjoying the sunshine.
Now, sweet Elsie, I’m going to tell everyone what happened next. I got the biggest surprise of the day.
We got back to the ship just after 3pm and I was keen to see what was going on on my back, so I took my shirt off and Mike had a look. There was a big welt about 20cm by 10cm filled with bumps and inflammation – he says it was like a big welt. And we nothing to put on it, so Mike went to the reception to ask if they had some cream for an insect bite. They said I’d have to see the doctor and that would cost 100 Euro! So Mike googled chemists in Safaga, found one 2km away and off we walked, off the ship and down to the dusty, smelly Main Rd of Safaga. We dodged endless taxi drivers offering us lifts and walked determinedly in the direction of the chemist. Before we got to the one on the map, we found another. We walked inside and asked for the cream and the shop keeper bought it along and announced it was 5 Egyptian pounds (R4.71). It was 20g tube of Allergex. We didn’t have 5 Egyptian pounds and the chemist didn’t have a machine. This meant we’d have to go look for an ATM. But then the Lord sent a couple of angels! As we left the chemist to look for an ATM, we saw two Westerners and thought they must be people from the ship. Maybe they would have 5 Egyptian pounds, so we approached them and asked if they were from the ship and did they have local currency. ‘Ah you are from the ship?’ said the lovely lady. ‘No, we are not from the ship, we are living here. We are from Holland!’ I told her my story and she opened her purse and pulled out 10 Egyptian pounds – that was all she had. We asked what they were doing in Safaga (a dreadful place to be honest) – they said they were staying at a resort around the corner (in the nice coastal part) to escape the Dutch winter. We thanked them profusely and returned to the chemist triumphantly presenting our 10 Egyptian pounds. I had noticed the couple walk into the vegetable shop a few doors down, so once our transaction was complete, we rushed over there and gave them their change. They laughed and Mike got the photo, although the wife is hidden behind her husband…
We walked back to the ship, saying a prayer that the Lord would bless these two sweet people with an abundance of life. That was a great surprise in Safaga. Mike put the cream on my back and it has certainly helped.
R4.71! I won’t get it at that price in South Africa.
It was a real blessing.
2 Corinthians 9:8
And God is able to bless you abundantly, so that in all things at all times, having all that you need, you will abound in every good work.
The best is yet to come – we are only passing through.
Keep the smile going.
God bless you.
In His Grip,
Helga xx 🙂