Riding on the Storm

🌊Riding on the Storm ⛈ 

This story takes place in the far-away time of Pre-Covid Era, in the far-away land of Egypt.

Now more lightheartedly 🙃😉

I am going to share a small part of the magic that took place whilst in Egypt at the beginning of March this year - smack in the face of the dawning of the Covid saga. I will be writing the Egypt chronicles with more detailed sharing on the whole experience, but for now here goes the Storm Sailing preview. 

The initial plan was that there was no plan.

Let me explain, a friend of mine and me were invited to an International Conference in Cairo which was on the 4th and 5th March, so we booked the flights and the Hotel for 2 nights and left the rest in the hands of providence 🤓 🤔

Somewhere along the line we found ourselves in Siwa, a beautiful desert oasis, right on the border with Libya 🏝

On one of the days whilst we were there, we got to visit the Oracle Temple and eventually sat in the premises just feeling the power of this ancient place of worship where Alexander the Great himself had come to obtain the Oracle’s insight.

As we were sitting there, just breathing, a young man passed by and we eventually engaged in conversation. He was named Abdo (from Abdullah) and our interaction ranged between travel experiences and religious views, mixed with cultural sharing of differences and a very friendly offer to show us around once we got to Alexandria - our next destination, on this unplanned landscape of possibilities.

We ended up going separate ways and later on that evening we got a text from Abdo saying he was leaving unexpectedly on the night bus back to Alexandria because there was a huge storm coming up 🌬☔️

We had no idea about anything because of course… we don’t watch the news. But our driver, Khaled, who was supposed to pick us up the following morning round about midday, also sent us a message asking whether we were still intent on going to Alexandria as there was a storm coming up. We of course replied yes. We just felt completely at peace with all of this.

Our driver then decided to come and sleep over at Siwa so that we could leave early in the morning in hopes of not getting caught up in the storm.

At 6 am, when we went down for breakfast, the day was dawning very peacefully, no wind at all, though it had rained and hissed during the night. But now it was so peaceful that we had our generous meal outside 🍳🍊☕️

We took off at 7, as arranged. Around 2 hours later, Khaled got a message from Siwa saying all hell had set loose and there was fierce rainfall there - something extremely unusual.

We, however, were clear from all of it until about 200 km later, when it started raining but not so much that we could not get to Alexandria. When we got there, the worst had passed, so in fact it was wonderful that we had not been there earlier.

We were staying at the 5 star Hilton Alexandria Corniche, right in front of the beach, in a room arranged for us by a wonderful lady we had met at the Conference and so it felt very cosy and comfortable to stay in and go “out” for dinner to one of the 3 special restaurants there. We chose Greek and enjoyed a very delicious meal, which was then digested in our very welcoming room as we rested for the following day.

Abdo was coming to “pick us up”… by bus and take us around, as promised.

The following morning the weather was absolutely peaceful and we were taken to the most relevant places, we learnt how to get round in the mini-buses and were pampered by his extreme generosity, as it is the custom in Egypt for the man to pay for everything. We kept on insisting we would pay, since he was a student and getting ready to get married and start a new household, but we just had to surrender and receive.

It was a lovely day.

We stayed one more day and were able to travel around easily now that we were proficient at catching the frequent mini-buses… Well, so proficient that we even lost our Hotel and went all the way to the end of the line, which was quite fortunate really because we got to see a place that had been recommended and we wouldn’t have seen if we hadn’t got lost!!!

Our train to Cairo was in the evening and it took a few more hours than expected because apparently the lines had been affected by this massive storm.

Have I told you that the whole country was shut down, schools and all, on the day we were daintily being driven from Siwa to Alexandria? Well yeah, but we weren’t part of the storm scenario.

Actually, this kind of weather is apparently extremely rare in Egypt - especially one that has the whole country shut down.

When we eventually got to Cairo, at about midnight, the weather was serene. No rain. No wind. Just perfect for us to get ourselves into a rickety taxi and to the Hotel 🚕🏢

We came to know that the storm had dwindled down that very day, a bit earlier than our arrival and it had destroyed houses, roads and what not. In short, it had spread sheer havoc but it did not so much as touch a hair of ours. Nothing.

The following day it was actually sunny, just as it had been in Alexandria, and we got to go for our final walk around the main square and mostly rest and interact with some of the people we had met at the Conference.

Meanwhile, the whole Covid bubble had burst and we were so oblivious of the rest of the world’s predicament, that when someone sent me an email informing me that something would not be possible because of the Covid-19, I asked whether that was a new Government directive 😂🤣😅😆🙂🙃 Had no idea back then that it was the actual name of the virus!!!!!!

My daughter had sent me a message asking whether I didn’t think I should anticipate my journey back because it seemed like the airports would be shut down because of the Corona Virus but I told her all was well. She needn’t worry. We were going to arrive home safe and sound on the pre-arranged date.

And so we indeed caught our plane on the 16th, only to find Vienna airport emptier than ever and to arrive at Lisbon airport without a hassle in sight, free sailing all the way out.

That very Thursday, the 19th of March, Cairo Airport was shut down, but by then we were enjoying a nice cuppa back home, completely surprised that now finally the whole world was realising what stopping meant and could have a chance to taste a bit of this peace we had been living all along… Or not. Each one to their choice.

And so goes the story of how we rode the storm across Egypt and never got touched by it.

I supposed being a skilled Dragon rider does come in handy whilst surfing a feisty weather forecast 🐉🐲🌊

The greatest gift that I received from my improbable trip to and through Egypt, was being able to experience at an even greater level than ever before, that whatever the Human / Master / I Am unity says Yes to, will open the spaces in-between, no matter what is going on in the world around us. Trust is the fundamental ingredient that rolls out the red carpet. 

And I suppose it was a great way of getting me out of the risk of getting caught up in unnecessary storms back home, whilst everyone was starting to panic amidst the first effects of the virus. Nothing better than to get myself to a place where none of that was going on yet so that when I finally came back, I just got the privilege of everything quietening down in the whole world and being able to listen to Mother Earth’s sigh, as She got a breather from all of the Humans’ incessant agitation and exploitation. 

Strangest of times. Who would ever imagine…