Here we are in Boqueron, with this post card beach laying in front of us, only a paddleboard ride away, and we are weary of going in. After months and months of living in a place where the water was murky and would most likely give you a weird infection if you jumped in, you would think that being surrounded by crystal blue water again we would constantly be dipping our toes in, but we’re not. We’re afraid.
   Our first full day here the girls were begging us to bring them to the beach, so we lathered on the sunscreen, got suited in our rashguards, and headed over. They had a blast running around on land again, looking for seashells, and chasing the waves . . . and that’s when it happened. Eben was playing in the water with Ellia, swimming around, when a barely visible jellyfish slid against his side. He had the quick reaction of lifting Ellia up and out of the water and came to shore to inspect his burn. We joked and questioned whether or not you are actually supposed to pee on a jellyfish burn or if that is just an old wives’ tale. We kept our bodily fluids to ourselves and Eben toughed it out. We decided to call that an evening and headed back to the boat before anyone else got shocked.
   The following day we hit up the beach a bit earlier in the day, wondering if maybe the jellyfish were out the prior day because it had just rained, or because it was dusk. But midday we noticed that there were many people in the water and thought maybe we would have better luck this time. The girls made castles, tore them down, dug holes, and had a sand fight. When all that fun was done they both jumped in the water to rinse off, and this time Arias was hit. Two for two. Her jellyfish got her on the arm and seems to have worked its way up her arm before Eben managed to get it off. Her reaction, completely understandable, was a bit less controlled than Eben’s. The tears and distorted face told the story of how much it stung. We took her home, showered and washed her arm properly, and she slowly complained less and less of the burn. We figured a shower would be much less traumatizing than having one of her parents pee on her.
   That is what is now keeping us from fully enjoying paradise. Fear. Fear that one of us will be hit again. We jumped online and googled jellyfish in Boqueron and it ends up that there is a specific species of jellyfish that become abundant in this area in the winter season. Yay for us. I wonder if there is any way of protecting the girls from this happening again, short of dressing them from neck to ankle if they are going swimming. Until I can find a solution, if there is one, I have been told that walmart sells a cream to stop the sting from a jellyfish encounter, which I will soon be purchasing and throwing in our beach bag for future dips with the jellies.  

Eben’s sting about 10 min after it happened
This is when she was stung, I was trying to take a pic of her playing in the water and I caught the exact moment it happened.

Arias’ arm 2 days after she was stung, still very apparent