Sunburn

My first day in San José del Cabo was wonderful—I went for a long walk along the beach, feet in the water, an adventuring explorer of caves and climber of rocky divisions between beaches. It was so enjoyable that I didn’t notice the sun’s bite, and only after I’d left the beach did I discover how badly burned my face and décolleté were. 

I was miserable. I couldn’t touch my face without being reminded, in fact, touching wasn’t even necessary because the skin was so taut that just moving my face, or indeed just being still, was sufficient to keep my foolishness top of mind. I carefully washed and cooled my face and slathered it with moisturizer. Of course, my aloe vera gel was in Vancouver. I kept up the moisturizing routine, hoping the tautness would ease, but it didn’t. 

The next day, I was afraid to go out. I didn’t want to expose my burned skin to more sun, but what was the alternative? Stay at the AirBnB and squander away my time in Cabo? I’d wanted to do a day trip to Todos Santos and go for a couple of hikes… that was impossible now. 

Since I needed at least needed to eat, I eventually ventured out to Centro, hugging the walls for shade and avoiding sunshine like a vampire daylight. I felt so foolish; my face was bright red and slathered with moisturizer and mineral sunscreen—I was quite the sight and embarrassed, and I saw (or imagined?) a smirk on every passing person’s face. 

I stayed on the shady sides of the streets, hurried through sunny patches, and spent time on a shaded bench to rest and read. It was cool in the shade, though, and I longed for the warm sun. In fact, I would have loved to go back to the beach… but that wasn’t going to work, not like this. Instead I went back home and watched a couple of movies. Pathetic vacation. 

I was hopeful that the following day would be better; alas, the face was still red and tight and painful on touch. Again I wouldn’t be able to spend any time in the sun. Don’t judge me, maybe you don’t understand how bad it was. Even my eye lids were burned. There were two creases on either side of my eyes that were still white—I must have squinted my eyes. Overall it was torturous, but still I was grateful that it wasn’t a second degree burn with blisters. And I didn’t want it to get to that point with continued exposure. 

So, I went for breakfast, carefully staying in the shade as much as possible, and then back home where I decided to do some “work” consisting of writing, reading and website design changes. Once the sun was down, I went out for dinner. This was also the day when two birds (or iguanas?) shat on me, one on my hand at the breakfast table, the other on my hair on the way to dinner. Didn’t I feel ever so lucky!

The fourth day in Cabo was already my last, and I slathered myself again with moisturizer and sunscreen. My skin was starting to peel now in addition to being bright red. After having a relaxed cappuccino at a lovely coffee shop, I wanted to have lunch at Cynthia Fresh again; I’d really enjoyed my meal there. So, I walked through the sun with my hands up trying to shade my face—probably a hilarious sight. Lunch was again tremendously enjoyable, and afterward I walked to Plaza Mijares on which way I finally bought a hat for a least a little shade for my face. At the plaza I watched big American cruise ship groups on touristy city tours and, of course, I read. I felt a little less miserable but still appreciably embarrassed by my scaly white-and-red appearance. At least I had gotten out a little. At dinner, a couple of ladies (Mexican-American and Italian) invited me to join them at their table and I had a lovely evening. 

On my fifth day, the mirror actually made me laugh—my skin was now flaking, and it was difficult to not keep peeling myself all day, which resulted in a couple of raw spots. I had to check out of my AirBnB, so I lugged my luggage around and spent the day coffee-shop-and-restaurant hopping until it was time to take the bus to the airport. 

The sunburn affected my stay, but it didn’t take away the enjoyment my experiences.