Stepping on a Black sea urchin was the worst thing that happened on the trip to Jordan and Turkey. The incident occurred in Aqaba, Jordan, on the coast of the Red Sea. It happened after a few minutes of swimming in the Red Sea, and my right foot was immediately in pain. Looking at the bottom of my right foot, there were a total of 7 spines. The pain got worse while lying down under a tarp on the shore of the beach. The Bedouins gave assurance and said not to worry. The spines can be removed at camp in Wadi Rum. But before heading to Wadi Rum, it was time for lunch at a nearby restaurant. I told the some of the restaurant staff about the incident and they said that it should be treated with warm water. Soon after, a restaurant staff came and offered to treat the wounded foot. He took my foot and aggressively massaged the wounded area in order to break the spines into pieces. Then the wounded area was slapped hard with bare hands. This was surprisingly painful. He assured me that it was necessary to break spines into pieces. After a more rounds of hard slapping, more aggressive massaging was applied to the wounded area. To finish it off, lemon was rubbed on the wounded area. I found later than lemon helps dissolve the calcium carbonated spines of the sea urchin. It was suggested that I walk on the wounded foot to break any unbroken spines. After all that was done, the spines were still there and pain lingered in the right foot while I ate fried fish with rice.
Five hours have passed since stepping on the Black sea urchin. Back at Wadi Rum a fire was made and people gathered around it. As promised, a Bedouin named Hashem came to treat my wounded foot. His strategy was to apply heat to the spines so that the spines would protrude out of skin in order to pluck them out. Hashem lit a cigarette and used it to burn the five main spines out. The duration of burning each spine became longer as my foot got used to the heat, but the pain was very noticeable. After ten minutes, a tweezer was used to try and pluck the spines out. The spines were not coming out. Hashem tried once more to burn the spines that were in my foot in hopes of it protruding. I was amazed that the cigarette burns was barely felt now. After five minutes, another attempt to pull spines out was unsuccessful. Abdullah (14 years old son of Difallah) who was sitting nearby offered to pull at the spines. Little progress was made. Finally, Abdullah’s uncle offered to treat it. His strategy was different than Hashem’s, but similar in concept. Instead of using cigarettes, burning wood from the fire was used. The hot wood was placed close to my foot for a few minutes then it was again time to pull out the spines. This time a tiny piece came out. There seems to be little hope of getting the spines out. We agreed to just let it be.
My foot was not better the next day. But the energy put into treating my wounded foot was not wasted. Relationships were being built. There was not a lot of dialogue between the Bedouins and I during the process, but we understood each other. When pain was showing on my face, they eased up. There was a moment when the Bedouins thought I turned my face away in pain, but when I turned back around I was eating a banana and they all started laughing and I also laughed. I was grateful for the efforts that the Bedouins showed me. The circumstances were unpleasant and the pain lasted only for a few days, but my feeling of fondness for the Bedouins lingers.
