Egypt in the summer... What was I thinking?

[Aymsgirl 0]

i was told to keep a fabric softener sheet in a pocket and it's suppose to keep them away. I did and seemed to work very good at the time until my daughter and her tribe of friends came near me and brought with them a million mosquitoes and then I was getting attacked

I heard that too. We need to keep searching for Melly or she will be nothing but a swelled up squito bite!

[sassysis 0]

Spray vinegar on yourself. the smell will go away, but the mosquitos dont like the taste. i have also heard using Basil leaves, rubbing them on yourself.

[simsim 0]

sorry i forget to tell you about moaqueto ! ... nothing affet on them ... they can break the cover lo0ol ... use strong stuff to kill them giza area having bad mosqueto and strong kind .. use spray all time in apartment ...

[doodlebugg 10]

honestly....can you cancel the trip? Just thinking about being there in that heat for so long with a little one is giving ME hives and I'm not the one going! I have a rather racey description of my experience in Cairo and Alexandria in July. I'll try to dig it up.

[doodlebugg 10]

here ya go:

http://www.visajourney.com/forums/index.ph...t&p=1081800

[Nothing1234 2]

here ya go:

http://www.visajourney.com/forums/index.ph...t&p=1081800

Girl...you are a trip! It is hot but I swear I never experienced what you guys did! I was there through summer and did well, I think because I live in AZ that 115 is normal for me. If I can live here I can make it any where. Thank god I didn't get sick though! That would have done me in! I swear now from reading all the stories on mosquitoes, humidity, heat and such...I am saying "thank god" over and over. The only thing that made me scream, cry, run and never want to look back were the cockroaches that you could put a saddle on and ride!

But hey, we have scorpions here in AZ so who am I to point fingers?

[sassysis 0]

Wow, maybe I should wait till, what Nov?

[KHPerfectMatch 1]

My girlfriend went in August last year and got something similar (but worse) than Amoebic dysentery. I guess we'll never know what she ate or drank that gave it to her, but in about 3-4 days after arriving she was so sick that she was delirious, with a high high fever, and because she was staying alone in the flat of one of my friends who had taken a trip to the Red Sea for a few days she got worse and worse without medical treatment.. (too sick to get out of the flat to look for a doctor, or a pharmacy).

She finally called a friend in Cairo (she was in Alex) who drove there to get her and knew a tropical medicine doc to take her to. She got the right meds from him and a week later managed to get onto a plane and came home to Houston (so she's obviously used to the heat)... She was sick for another month after she got home. Lost 30 lbs. in 10 days, was totally dehydrated, and then her skin came off in sheets...

I suspect it was from the nasty water storage tanks that sit on the tops of the buildings and hold the tap water. I have never been sick in Egypt when I go during the winter.. but every time I'm there in the warm weather I get sick to one degree or another. I think the "creepin' crud" grows really fast in those tanks in hot weather and even brushing your teeth is enough of an exposure to get it all going...

After her experience (and they say she was lucky to have made it back without hospitalization) I will never go to Egypt without traveller's insurance again... And by the way, mosquitos ate me alive in January! And unlike the bites I've had here, every last one of them became infected and I have scars to this day... I think I heard one of them say "YUMMMMMMMMMMMMMY WHITE MEAT!!!!" and all his friends came for a feast.. First time in my life I could hear them coming BEFORE they bit me! JUST GROSS...

[B&S 0]

I have been here in Alexandria since April 1st. And last year I was here from Sept-Dec. So I think I am in for a good shock myself here. Made me laugh about the cockroaches though I got some in my bathroom along with some raid. Ants are plenty in my kitchen if anyone needs some? I do got ac but my husband freaks out if I turn it on for to long. And he is scared of the skitors so most the time I feel like I am living in a cave with no air. We got some of those raid plug in for the skitors but they bite him not me. And I boil the water before I drink it. I stay home most the time I dont go to many places unless it is for groceries. Just 2 streets from the sea so get a good breeze from there when I hang out my clothes. I am from Arkansas so we get hot weather with lots of humity there, where you walk outside and you cant breath and they put out alerts telling you to stay inside. And we got so many bugs there that skitors and nats dont bother me. Really glad its not a wasp or something. When I am cleanin veggie I think I just bought a snake with it so I jump back if I think something moves. Oh and I hate the beds here. I dont think they have boxsprings here do they? Thinkin in the summer the floor might be cooler and softer ?

[doodlebugg 10]

I honestly think that we got sick because they don't really pay much attention to how long food is sitting out in the heat. I could be wrong but if my husband is any indication of what people think is ok there then it's pretty scarey. To this day he can't understand why I want to throw away leftover chicken that has been sitting in the back of the fridge for over a week. I can't tell you how many times I've had to throw out mayonaise and other condiments that he's just left on the counter overnight! When in doubt throw it out. That's my motto and I try to drill it into his head but he is so stuck on not wasting any food at all.

[Ihavequestions 419]

I honestly think that we got sick because they don't really pay much attention to how long food is sitting out in the heat.

That's because almost all of it sits out in the heat; very little is refrigerated. Milk? Nope. It comes hot, in a box, or out of a vat that has to be boiled. Eggs? Those are sitting on the floor in front of the refrigerated case of the one or two types of cheeses that are actually refrigerated (you don't want to know the process the cheese hanging in the bags goes through) and yogurt. Meat? That's fresh off of the carcass, hanging on the hook outside of the butcher shops. Fish? Peel off the layer of black flies and you'll find it? Same goes for produce this time of year - it's all slathered with black flies.

Yep, mosquitoes ... flies ... ants ... roaches (big and small), we've got it all here. This, after all, is Africa.

What we don't have birds to eat the insects. The cats roaming everywhere would have a bug-eating bird swallowed up in no time. If a pigeon happened to fly too low it might just end up on someone's dinner table.

It's definately summer.

[sassysis 0]

I honestly think that we got sick because they don't really pay much attention to how long food is sitting out in the heat.

That's because almost all of it sits out in the heat; very little is refrigerated. Milk? Nope. It comes hot, in a box, or out of a vat that has to be boiled. Eggs? Those are sitting on the floor in front of the refrigerated case of the one or two types of cheeses that are actually refrigerated (you don't want to know the process the cheese hanging in the bags goes through) and yogurt. Meat? That's fresh off of the carcass, hanging on the hook outside of the butcher shops. Fish? Peel off the layer of black flies and you'll find it? Same goes for produce this time of year - it's all slathered with black flies.

Yep, mosquitoes ... flies ... ants ... roaches (big and small), we've got it all here. This, after all, is Africa.

What we don't have birds to eat the insects. The cats roaming everywhere would have a bug-eating bird swallowed up in no time. If a pigeon happened to fly too low it might just end up on someone's dinner table.

It's definately summer.

OMG!! Too funny!

[Nothing1234 2]

One more thing...

We are planning a family trip in a couple of years. We have about 8 people going with us. I am NEVER letting them read this post! I think no one will ever want to go to Egypt with us! It sounds like the armpit of hell!

What about Jordan or other ME countries? Has anyone had similar experiences in other ME countries? I have not. Of all the times I have spent in Jordan (and I was there many summers of my childhood) I never experienced the bugs, dirty streets (as dirty i should say), hella hot/humid heat or bad food like in Egypt. Only froze my butt off in the winter months

Edited May 21, 2009 by Nawal

[doodlebugg 10]

Maybe it depends where in Egypt you are. For example, if I were to stay in a condo that was fully airconditioned, had a lreserved car with air conditioning to drive me to and fro, took other precautions like not going out in the sunlight, etc. it wouldn't be too too bad. At the time I had no idea that the bulk of the cabbies there didn't have air conditioning that was full blast like we have here and we did get a flat with air conditioning but it blew up after five minutes of turning the thing on. Plus we didn't plan on getting food poisoning. It guess it was just a bad trip.

[Nothing1234 2]

Maybe it depends where in Egypt you are. For example, if I were to stay in a condo that was fully airconditioned, had a lreserved car with air conditioning to drive me to and fro, took other precautions like not going out in the sunlight, etc. it wouldn't be too too bad. At the time I had no idea that the bulk of the cabbies there didn't have air conditioning that was full blast like we have here and we did get a flat with air conditioning but it blew up after five minutes of turning the thing on. Plus we didn't plan on getting food poisoning. It guess it was just a bad trip.

I agree about where you are makes a difference with many things: bugs, AC, access to stores, etc. I wish we had a fully airconditioned flat! But all and all it was not so bad...we had 2 ac units and thank god they worked. I think the cab ride w/ the hot air blowing on my face and the wind burn was a ton of fun! But mostly we ventured out a lot at night and relaxed at home or hit the mall/stores/sport club during the day.