We would like to get settled in as soon as possible, and therefore the apartment search began immediately. We saw a couple nice places in the Bedouin neighborhood, but they were asking more than we wanted to pa y (that's what we get for going to a real estate agency). So we decided to try a different tactic.
Our boss found us one apartment for a little more than 100 Euros. It looked ok, and we were very rushed to make a decision, so we took. It it was a one bedroom with small kitchen and dingy bath. There was a family living in it when we came, but we were told they would be gone when we came back. We were hesitant to kick someone out of their home, but were assured it would be no problem. A few hours lated when we came to move in, that family was still there. Upon seeing us, they welcomed us in, and began moving their stuff out. It was very awckward and made worse when we realized they were moving their stuff onto the roof, where they had a small shack set up for all 5 of them to live. We moved in, but we weren't comfortable with the living situation. While we realized they would rather have the money and live on the roof. We felt uncomfortable being the rich foreigners living in their house (they still kept their family photos on the wall) while they lived in a makeshift shack on the roof. WE decided to move into a hostel the next day and continue our apartment search.
We were off to do some "work" - our boss told us to get out of the shop and spend the day snorkeling to get to know the dive sites- and we passed a dive shop we had exchanged emails with prior to coming here. I stopped in, introduced myself and of course offered my services as a freelance instructor. I also mentioned that we were looking for an apartment. He introduced us to a guy who walked us down to meet another guy, Karim. Karim happened to be a freelance divemaster and the hostel we were staying at. We told him what were looking for, something basic, one bedroom, clean, air-conditioned (its like 100+ here all day long), and he said to meet him at the hostel at 9 that night and he would show us a few places.
After some snorkeling and a quick dinner, we met up with Karim and "real estate agent" or the local equivalent. Basically he was the guy that locals went to when they wanted to rent out their apartments. We spent the rest of the evening walking around looking at studios, apartment, and houses. The agent would call and then walk us to the house, Karim spoke on behalf of us, speaking with the owners and haggling down prices. We realized, how luck we were to have him, because there was no way we would get to see these places, or get good prices without his help. Place after place we went to, looking at apartments, Karim yelling in arabic to get us a good deal.
One apartment was especially interesting. We were shown a one bedroom in a nice area in the local part of town call Asalah. It was ok, but looked a bit like a hotel to me. We were told by the guy showing us the house that we would have to speak to the owner to know the price. We were taken out back where 3 men were sitting on a mat, drinking tea and smoking cigarettes. We were introduced, asked to sit and were offered a drink as is customary. Then we began to negotiate. The apartment was 2,000 Egyptian Pounds, way more than we wanted to pay. We told him this and he said he could go a bit lower, but still not to where we wanted. Karim and him began to "discuss" in arabic and we sat patiently as they went back and forth. Though it sounded like an argument, I had realized that was just the tone they spoke in when talking business. A few minutes later, the man explained that he couldn't go any lower. We said we understood and thanked him for his time.
3 hours in, and everyone was exhausted and we headed to the main road to catch a cab into a cab, when the guy who showed us the apartment said he had one more place he could show us. We were taken to a place in the same area as the dive shop where we worked, an area called Mashraba where a lot of locals lived. We were greated by the owner who laughed, remembering yelling "My color" to me earlier that day. He owns a shop on the main strip called Mr. Spice. We joked and said he was the Spice Man. He said, no he was the Spice Boy, the Spice Man was his uncle and had a shop up the road. We had a chuckle and were taken in to see the place.
Like every other house in Dahab (and most arabic places) all you can see of the house from the outside is a stone wall. YOu then enter into through a gate and find a garden. (Arabic people like there privacy and have their back yards either behind a wall or sometimes in the middle of their house) This particular house had a white stone wall with a wooden door. The garden is nice, small but it had a few trees, that provide a nice shady spot to sit and read. When we entered the house, were were amazed. You entered into the living room, which consisted of a low table with some cushions and rugs on the floor (egyptian couch), THere was a TV with satellite (though we found later that it was mostly egytpian and italian channels). It was beautifully decorated with wall hangings and stained-glass lanterns. There were two large bedrooms, a beautiful bath tub and hot water. A large kitchen and a sun roof. It was perfect and it was 1,500 pounds (our asking price). They said they would throw in an AC for only 150 more pounds a month. We said we had to think about it, but my mind was made up. It was the same price as most of the small studios we had seen and we could have our own house.
We told Karim we would take, a contract was drawn up, and some money exchanged, and we were told we could move in the next day. The grand total was 1,650 pounds a month (about 200 Euros), making this the nicest and cheapest apartment we had ever had.
We moved in yesterday and it is so nice to have a lovely home to come back to. It is just another thing making me believe that Dahab is a dream come true.
