:: Day 3/4 : Sunshine Heals All ::

Day 3 was the first day I went out swimming, firstly in the hotel pool which made my skin sting horrendously, then in the sea. The salty water burnt my skin and made it feel hard and leathery when it had dried. I remember thinking that I seemed to actually be morphing into a living book and had that moment of panic when I thought it might take a lot longer to heal than I’d thought. It felt at this point, after a couple of days in the sun, like I was growing a second skin and might never be soft and womanly again. I looked like a gladiator or some kind of sun baked Amazonian Warrioress, which was fine by me but I wasn’t sure how keen Loren would be in the long term.

At one point when I was swimming in the sea it felt like my whole face was turning into some giant sore welt because of the salt. It quickly subsided and of course the short term pain meant it was doing its job and was the best thing for healing. I’d also been lathering myself with Aloe Vera gel through the day and Almond Oil before bed, or rather Loren had been doing a very diligent job of keeping me hydrated, so my skin calmed down a lot and the blood lining quickly became very subtle. The lines themselves became very thin delicate pinkish marks in areas of my body most exposed to the sun, in other parts like my thighs and legs the scabs were beginning to itch and come apart. My skin care routine was doing the trick nicely and I rediscovered my confidence in ignoring the unwanted attention of strangers. I had also managed to get some sleep now the intense throbbing had died down, which really helped me stopped being so hypersensitive. The mosquitoes naturally loved me.

I had of course anticipated people being curious, I just never expected some people to be so blatantly rude and the airport in Nottingham and the Thomson coach journey to our hotel were pretty relentlessly intrusive. I’ve never wanted to shut myself away for a bit of peace and head space as much as I did that night. I’ll never forget the experience, it was completely invaluable.

Now gradually people were beginning to think I had some kind of henna tattoo all over my skin and their responses were softening to gentle curiosity as opposed to shocked revulsion. I think some of them must have thought I had the most intellectual scabies on the planet.

This was my arsenal of skin products ::

This is what my skin was starting to look like ::