“YOU BUY, YOU BUY”

Last month my girlfriend and I had the pleasure of visiting the fascinating country of Egypt.

It was a welcome change from the cold winter air of Columbus, Ohio, where we reside, and the blistering cold of the Ukraine, where we spent a week visiting a friend prior to our arrival in Egypt.

As soon as we exitted the plane, I felt the warm Egyptian sun.

To my left, sand-covered mountains were reflecting the sun’s rays.

We proceeded on our way through customs grabbing our bags and headed for the Steigenberger Al Dau Club, our destination inside Hurghada. This Meditterranean Sea-based coastal town primarily is viewed as a resort city that caters to Europeans.

We hit the streets, forewarned by Ahmed, our new friend from the hotel, not to be too expressive about our American citizenship. Soon after, we were bombarded by sellers of jewelry, trinkets, clothing, and what not. It was mind-boggling with the amount of people trying to sell us things.

One incident I will never forget was when we visited downtown Hurghada. My companion and I were walking down the street heading towards a local mall. And countless times, we were approached by locals selling strawberries.

‘You buy,’ he demanded.

Uninterested, we continued walking. We were approached by another man selling cigarettes.

We declined. We walked some more.

Another man with more cigarettes,

‘You Buy! You Buy!

I turned to my girlfriend, laughed, and said, ‘it’s like a bad dream.’ She started laughing too.

They were spaced out evenly, so every four steps you would be approached by a new vendor, selling more cigarettes. It felt like being inside a video game dodging enemies.

All in all, I never gave in to buying the cigarettes but I did purchase some delicious strawberries (which were later stolen on an excursion to Cairo).

This entry was reported by the head of our travel department, Clint Maxwell.

Be on the lookout for more of Clint’s Entries.