Sting-Rays

Well if you haven't heard already, Steve Irwin died by getting stung by a sting-ray. It's really unfortunate, I thought he was pretty entertaining.

Anyway this reminded me of the time I got stung by a sting-ray. I had taken a year of from undergraduate school to travel in Mexico. I think I was 20 or so. We lived in the back of 69 chevy truck, which we painted with crosses, to make it appear that we were missionaries. But we carried a box of old porno magazines to bribe police at border crossings. This was in the mid-90's and this method seemed to work. We didn't get robbed or pay too many 'fees'. We were mainly traveling on the Pacific coast staying in primitive surf camps. I left with $1500 and came back to the US with $400, we were on the dirt-cheap trek.

Anyway I was learning how to surf on a smaller break and I got stung by a sting-ray, right after I got in the water. I stayed in the water for a few more waves before quitting for the day. I think the cold water was numbing me to the pain, because as soon as I started walking on the sand I was in excruciating pain. I met up with my friends who were sitting at a restaurant watching the surf. I tried to ice it but that was also very painful. Finally the waitress came by with a hot lime and she squeezed the juice on it. She knew what had happened. That made it feel a bit better. She also went on to say that after the warm lime juice cooled down my boyfriend at the time should piss on my foot, which he did. I don't remember that making me feel any better. I think it was more humiliating having my boyfriend piss on my foot. You have to remember we were in the middle of nowhere, no telephones, no hospitals and barely any electricity. I was willing to try anything.

I'm glad  it didn't kill me.