I wandered down to the docks after a celebration in another island community. All the children from the entire village were gathered there, swimming and playing in the super-clear water. Of course, I couldn't help but jump in and join them... After getting over their initial shyness of this strange new creature, the kids swarmed me. We played a bit in the water, but when I went to get out, the fun was over. In order to climb back up to the dock, I chose the wrong footing on the wooden uprights... I didn't know what, but SOMETHING pierced my leg... OUCH! When I got out of the water (by way of a different route), I had the venemous black tips of 10 or more sea urchin spines in my shin! YIKES! I've heard stories about people that've been stuck by this particular variety of sea urchin and they're never very nice... as a result I'm always super careful not to touch or even go near them... uuuggghhh....
Well, everyone seemed to have a different take on the best method to 'cure' me, but I decided to go with the advice of the elder who was actually from the village... he didn't have any teeth, but he was still going (at age 70+!)... seems like a reliable source of local knowledge. So, he whisked me off to a nearby hut and ordered some hot water... meanwhile he pounded the embedded spines with a blunt piece of bamboo... o.k....? He explained that if you splinter the tips into bits, then apply a VERY hot compress, supposedly the poison comes out on its own and the shards are dissolved and absorbed by the body... o.k...? I was somewhat skeptical of this magic, but ok... what choice did I have? What do you know... within moments the pain had subsided, over a few hours some of the black spots began to disappear, and less than a day later, there is no sign that I had ever been through the trauma!~
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