Bahamian Paradise: Allergic to the Sun

Yep.  You read that right.  I'm allergic to the sun.  

Late Monday evening, I started to notice a few strange patches on my arms and legs and around my lips.  I woke up in the middle of the night itching.  Like.  Crazy.  By Tuesday morning, my arms and legs were about 50% covered in a rash.

(Having an itchy rash didn't stop me from running down to the beach at 6am to see if I could catch the sunrise.)

Anyway, at first, I thought the rash was sun poisoning.  But I had only gotten burned in a couple spots where I didn't get sunscreen applied well and I was getting a rash on parts of my arms and legs that hadn't really seen much sun at all (think inner thighs and inner forearms).  

I was so miserable.  Joel was feeling really sorry for me and he went to the concierge to see if they had any suggestions.  Turns out there's a nurse's station at the resort, so we went over there.  The nurse gave me some hydrocortizone cream and benedryl, told me to stay out of the sun and sent me on my way.  

By Wednesday morning, my arms and legs were covered 95% in a rash and it had also spread a little to my chest and back.  I. Was. Miserable.

I had resigned myself to spending the rest of my vacation in shade.  I was so sad about that.  But I was doing a remarkable job drowning my sorrows in frozen beverages and my Kindle.  

However, by Wednesday afternoon, I was crying.  I was itching so bad, I couldn't take it.  The only thing that helped was being in cold water.  I had befriended a couple in their 70s, Sarah and Jerry, who went on the same Ocean Safari that we did.  They had an in-pool table complete with umbrella so I hung out with them for hours on Wednesday so I could be in the pool and in the shade at the same time.  Joel was off at the beach enjoying things people who aren't allergic to the sun can enjoy.  

Some time on Wednesday, I did some research about itchy rashes caused by the sun and came across photoallergic reactions.  Basically that's a situation where something you put on your skin (soap, lotion or even sunscreen) reacts with the sun and causes a rash.  I had all the symptoms.  So I get the idea that with every other "allergy" type of itchy rash I've had (poison ivy, post surgery tape allergy, etc), the doctor has prescribed prednisone.  So I went back to the nurse and she worked with a doctor to get me some!  God bless that woman.  She saved my sanity and even my vacation.  

The rash steadily got better after that and by Monday when I returned to work it was completely gone.  

So that's that story.  Now on to more interesting things.  Like what we ate.  And drank.

One of my coworkers suggested a drink he likes to have when he goes on a resort style vacation:  coconut rum, pina colada mix, fresh banana, grenadine, ice, blended.  It was quite delicious so I sent him a photo "cheers!"  Joel and I enjoyed this drink many times throughout the week!  

Tuesday evening we went to the French restaurant, La Parisienne, for dinner.  I didn't get any pictures of our food.  Just our gorgeous, hot selves.  Joel had a sea scallops appetizer, some kind of unidentifiable seafood soup and duck confit for the main entree.  I had an incredible spinach salad with apples, grapes, goat cheese and raspberry vinaigrette, french onion soup, and lamb.  Both meals were above average.  I loved my salad.  I could have had a whole meal of just that.  For dessert, we both had creme brulee.  It was the very best creme brulee we've ever had.  Incredible.  I could have had a whole meal of just that.  Haha.

That evening, there was going to be a chocolate party which we just HAD to attend.  Nevermind that we had just eaten dinner and completely stuffed ourselves already with dessert.  But we are not messing around on this vacation and someone says chocolate party and we say, "Hell yeah!"  Well, maybe it was only me crying out with a "Hell yeah!" but Joel's a good sport and he knows better than to suggest that we don't really NEED any more food.

 

Wednesday during the day, while I was hanging with Sarah and Jerry in the shade, Joel was on the beach playing with his new camera phone.  He took a few fun pictures.

Wednesday for dinner, we were back to the Italian place for dinner.  I got the mahi mahi again because I seriously love that fish and I get it so rarely.  Joel got the mahi mahi too.  Each time we went to the Italian place, I would pick one of the pasta entrees and order a small side of it just so I could have a taste.  They were all yummy.  I ordered the same dessert at the dessert bar, chocolate lava cake, but it was made different this time by a different chef.  Still yummy.

After dinner, we hung out in a hammock for a while enjoying the evening breeze.

When we got back to the room, someone had drawn a nice bubble bath for us in honor of our fifth wedding anniversary!  It was so lovely to look at.  I've always wanted to take a flower petal filled bubble bath.  However, I put one toe in that warm water and knew there was no way that my rash could withstand water that warm.  And Joel was feeling sunburned so he didn't really want the hot water on him either!  We were so sad to have wasted this.  Oh well, what are you gonna do?

Thursday morning, Joel got up at the crack of dawn to see the beach sunrise.  So serene.

He also found a live hermit crab!

Thursday was another day spent in the shade.  I was making serious progress on my Kindle library!  Around lunch time, there was an announcement over the pool loudspeaker that they were preparing Chicago style hot dogs.  We had just ordered pizzas for lunch but did that stop us from getting a hot dog?

Thursday night, before dinner, we were taking a few pictures of ourselves, in our hotness, and one of the resort professional photographers came along and we had a mini photo shoot.  There were a couple good pictures, but they were expensive so we only bought one. 

We had dinner at the French place. I had the salad again but this time I had a different appetizer that was basically like a super cheesy delicious square of vegetable lasagna.  Holy crap it was good.  For my entree, I had salmon and it was amazing.  Joel.  Joel had escargos.  Snails.  Ewwww.  He loved it.

After dinner, it was raining.  Pretty hard.  And we didn't bring our umbrella from our room with us to dinner.  I had seen umbrellas in the lobby earlier in the week so we checked there, but they were all passed out.  So we decided to pass the time and wait out the rain in the bar.  After all, it only rains for 15 minutes at a time in the Caribbean, right?

Well let me also tell you that Joel was on a bit of a mission.  Of the 'get drunk' variety.  See, we'd been enjoying beverage after beverage all week and neither one of us ever really even got a buzz.  In order to achieve his mission, he opted for straight whiskey.  Neat.  (As in, just whiskey in a glass.... not even any ice to water it down.)  So after dinner, Joel was already a little glassy eyed.

So back to the bar.  Joel is enjoying some more whiskey and I'm flashing back to my college days and drinking cranberry and vodka.  It's flat out storming outside - thunder, lightening, the whole nine yards.  I ask the bartender if the power goes out very often on the island.  She says, Nah.  Not very often at all unless it's like a major tropical storm or hurricane.  About 5 minutes later, the power goes out.  

GAAAAH!

So what are we do to except order another round!  We can't get in to our room now even if we did want to brave the rain because the keys are all electronic!  I'm pretty sure at this point, I was drunk enough that I was trying to sell Cummins generators to the bartender.  Yeah, she didn't buy any.  

In the dark, we end up meeting another couple from Indiana!  They were on their honeymoon - how sweet.  Both were fellow Boilermakers so I had all kinds of things in common that we talked about.  I'm pretty sure my intoxicated self absolutely talked their ears off.  But I was trying to distract attention away from my ridiculously inebriated husband who was teetering on the edge of making a total arse of himself (I mean that in the most positive, loving way possible - love you Babe).  

It did eventually slow way down on the rain.....maybe it even stopped completely, long enough for us to get back to the room.  I can't remember.  Regardless, we made it back to the room unharmed.  I forced to Joel to drink a bunch of water and didn't manage to take my own advice.  So he woke up feeling great and I woke up in the middle of the night with a minor hangover.  Doh!

Next up:  The end.