I got up early, mostly because of jet lag and also because I was excited to get up, make coffee and breakfast, enjoy sitting on the balcony watching the town below… then climb for a few hours before Jess and Steve had to start working at 2pm. This is where the record-scratch moment happens, the part where you wish you had that one critical moment to hit the “undo” button: I (Jennifer) was heating up some oil on the stove for eggs, about 2 tablespoons in a saute pan over the gas stove. It started to smoke, I went to move it off the burner with my left hand and and the lightness of the pan was unanticipated since I’m used to our heavy pans so I must have used too much force — in an instant the oil splashed up over the side of the pan an over my thumb, forefinger, and a bit on my hand. I dropped the pan on the floor and ran cold water over the burn area for what seemed like 10 minutes or so. Burn pain is incredible, I think I might take any other pain over it. It just. doesn’t. stop. I was incredibly angry at myself, here we are in the most beautiful place I’d been wanting to visit for so long and I do something so idiotic. I would stop the water to inspect the burn every few minutes only to see the red and white marks. Eventually I wrapped my hand in a wet washcloth with a few ice cubes and we made our way down to the pharmacy to see if they had any silvadene. Of course the pharmacy didn’t open until 9… Jess got a coffee from the cafe next door and we marveled at the view out the window while we waiting a long 10 minutes. Luckily the pharmacist had silvadene and was able to provide us a tube and some gauze.

On the way home we were able to stop at the Tuesday market and get some beautiful vegetables — the mushrooms were the most amazing — huge trumpet-shaped mushrooms, juicy peaches, apples, onions and some lettuce.

We came home, washed the hand again, applied silvadene and wrapped it. I started googling severity of burns, I learned a lot and was afraid of the white marks that weren’t blistering on my thumb and forefinger — burns are scary and left untreated or undiagnosed as something to be concerned about can turn into serious issues.

We went up to Canyon Sa Tappara and I scrambled around one-handed and took photos of the guys climbing and did some exploring with Becky. Luckily, the pain was subsiding a lot so I was able to carefully scramble around with one hand and take photos.

In the afternoon when people in the states were starting to wake I hit up my friends in the medical profession for some guidance and searched for nearby medical facilities where I could have a doctor assess the damage. Similar concerns were expressed regarding the areas in question. I re-washed the now very blistered hand but still didn’t feel comfortable with the numb, waxy skin on my thumb. Jess and I did some additional research on the internet and I barely slept trying to explore all the possibilities in my head… what if I needed a skin graft? what if I get an infection? What if it’s fine and I’m overreacting?