Long Hair Long Life
/Gili Air, although initially peaceful and undeniably charming, came with a series of unfortunate events. (Note: There are no pictures with this post, as it has not been pretty.) It started off simply enough; I came down with a cold and sneezed my way around the island, then got badly congested. Not the end of the world. I sat reading in a beanbag chair one afternoon as Jay went out to snorkel.
He wasn’t out long when I saw him returning, figuring the snorkeling wasn’t very good. I should know Jay better, and my adrenaline finally kicked in when he calmly said, “I may need your help.”
As he approached he presented his middle toe, covered in tiny spines from some creature and turning purple. “I don’t think this is good,” he said. About a 20 minute walk from our villa, I knew he needed tweezers and alcohol (which I should carry in a fanny pack at this point) so I took off sprinting and told him to ask for the wifi and start Googling.
When I got to the villa (not pretty in my congested state) my wifi clicked in and I had a message from Jay (and Google): sea urchin. Only my Jay would get hit by a sea urchin on the top of his foot. I grabbed the supplies and sprinted back. In my haste I’d forgotten my sandals, so hot sand added an extra element of fun to my run.
When I got there he was soaking the toe in vinegar, which we now know is the immediate “go to” for sea urchin stings. It breaks up the venom. I did my best to surgically remove the spines and we applied vinegar and alcohol until Jay was ready to walk. Since we were walking around the island, we decided to finish our walk and ended up finding a Medical Center, aka a room with some stuff in it. (No tissues. Out of tissues.)
They popped Jay on a table and told him the vinegar was a smart move, and really the only thing that works on sea urchin attacks. They did need to break up the stings as best as possible, so his body could absorb the poison and heal. They picked up a contraption that looked like a miniature golf ball and proceeded to whack the toe and all of the purple spots repeatedly. It looked incredibly painful, but Jay handled it like a champ and I shuffled through the shelves to find a decongestant.
I was still stuffy the next morning, so sent Jay scuba diving (his toe was successfully healing) and headed to the dock to book our speedboat back to Bali the next day.
Imagine my surprise when I approached our boat company’s counter and presented my tickets, only to be told: “No fast boats today or tomorrow.” My series of questions and disbelief in my voice seemed to confuse them, but I managed to learn that the government had grounded all fast boats to and from the Gili Islands because of weather. Our alternative? A 9 hour slow boat. My congested head started to spin.
How long would this ban last? Ask the government. Great. Can I get their number? As you can imagine, I was not the only confused tourist on the dock. But we seemed to be the only ones concerned. Apparently the locals are accustomed to boat schedules being suspended on a whim.
So we made a series of choices. I declared that I would not get on a boat for 9 hours (we still may have to…) We figured we needed a hotel for an extra night, anyway, so why not see the last Gili Island. So here we are. On Gili Meno. Hoping the winds swing in our favor and we can get back to Bali tomorrow.
Last night we layed on the beach watching the movie, "Lion" on bean bag chairs, eating fresh BBQ, realizing that island life has its perks, so long as you adjust your clock with the trade winds, have some patience, and watch out for sea urchins. As the locals say every time they pass us, “Long hair, long life.” No rush. Couldn’t go anywhere if we wanted to.
Oh, and Jay's toe is fine.
