Vacations: Good for the Spirit, Bad for the Skin

So I am in Costa Rica, and I had hired a guide to take me through a private wildlife reserve. I was overwhelmed with the sights: Toucans, Mot mots, Kiskadees and Giant Morph butterflies. My guide led me to a waterfall, and of course I felt compelled to swim and thus washed off all of the Deet I had slathered on before I left. For the next hour and a half we hiked up to the lodge and little open air school where lunch was waiting for me. Mary, our cook, had hiked in earlier that morning following the reserve attendant while he guided a horse in laden with beans, rice, avocados, chicken and squash. After lunch we hiked up to a look out which offered a stunning view, but on the way up I felt something pricking me, I was confused by it- at first I thought I had crashed into thorns. But as the stinging continued, I realized that I was under attack. I yelled for Louis and told him that something was on me. He turned around and advised me to: "RUN!" So I was stung twice on the face and once on the hand. For the first three days the bridge of my nose dissolved into my eyes and I looked like Joe Lewis. Nice. But you know what? I wouldn't trade the day for anything. Maybe I will get some superpowers from my sting...