January 8, 2008 from Cyprus

I can't believe a week has gone by, and I am back in Cyprus. It was a nice relaxing week in El Gouna, which we may have mentioned before as being on the Red Sea in Egypt, south-east of Cairo. Dale only did one turn-around while we were there, so we fit in some fun touristy stuff.
The 'authentic' Bedouin dinner definitely fit into this category. It also included a camel ride and being entertained by a variety of dancers including the usual belly dancers and another whirling dirvish, while we sat on cushions around a low table and ate too much BBQ and many other treats from the buffet. We didn't take them up on their offer of smoking the Shisha pipe.
We spent an afternoon out at Mangroovy Beach, but only watched the kite surfers. We rented bicycles another day and toured around downtown and the marina then walked it all the next day, so we could pop into the shops. The rest of the time was taken up swimming, going to the gym and oh yes, of course, eating.
I had originally planned on coming back on the 10th, but as Dale's schedule changed again, we moved it up to the 7th, and today Dale headed off to Dubai. He will be there for his Birthday tomorrow, so I hope he will do something fun – like ski!
Meanwhile, I have been trying to catch up on the regular stuff over here. Because Cyprus has changed from the Cypriot Pound to the Euro, all our accounts were inaccessible for a while, and today I finally paid my bills and picked up a new chequebook etc. Hopefully by the time Dale gets back I will have caught up on the rest of the housework and laundry, so we can continue to check out more of Cyprus.
Take care and do keep in touch.
Love,
Laurel