Flight into Egypt

26 September 2011

I arrived in Cairo at 6:30 pm yesterday, about thirty minutes late. It seemed like it took forever to go through immigration. I waited in line for twenty minutes only to be told I first needed to buy a visa. So off I went to another kiosk where the guy took my $15 and gave me a piece of paper with a shiny sticker. Fortunately the immigration officer let me jump the line to get my passport stamped. Customs was no problem and I met Ahmed and Mansoura as soon as I left the customs area.  I sent a photo of myself to Ahmed and that made it easy to recognize me. My first task: Mansoura handed me a $100 and told me to pick up four bottles of wine and a bottle of whiskey at the duty free shop.

 This is the hospital where we work. The operating rooms are good, with adequate light and plentiful soap and water. The anesthesia machines were unremarkable with piped in oxygen and functional ventilators.

 Here's a view from the balcony outside our room. We also got a ring-side seat for the fireworks display during a wedding reception. Smog is a big problem in urban Egypt.

The drive from Cairo to Mansoura was long and uncomfortable but the hotel is comfy. They had WiFi in the lobby so I was able to send a note to Rosanne. Ahmed and I met Betsy and Young in the restaurant. Betsy is a peds CCU nurse and Young is a CRNA from Columbia; both seemed very nice.