I was religious with the sunscreen in Cuba, to the point where I was coating my teeth with it JUST IN CASE. That didn’t help my right shoulder though, which both Ed and I somehow missed on Tuesday. Of course, this was the area that was directly in the sun for about 9 hours solid on Tuesday, and was burned to an ever-loving crisp.

I can’t remember the last time I had a sunburn – I’m an anti-social nerd with gothic leanings; I don’t go out in the sun if I can get away with it. Unfortunately, I burned my right shoulder to dangerous levels and there wasn’t anything I could do about it. Putting clothing on or off was a nightmare, as was sleeping. It hurt! I was bright red! None of this is any good at all!

.. I’d be red and cursing my clothing straps a thousand times over before I’d redo what came next:

behold the right shoulder of the damned

The burn was bad enough, but then it fucking BLISTERED. The whites – just the whites – of my lesbian tattoo blistered horribly, and was painful and hideous and terrible. It was disgusting – my shoulder looked like a monster from a B-movie with a surprisingly large makeup budget. The above picture was taken on Thursday evening and doesn’t come close to showing how awful it looked, let alone how much it hurt. I was quite scared that I had ruined my tattoo forever and would come away from Cuba with this permanent lumpiness on my shoulder, but the blisters – while numerous and gross – eventually disappeared (or popped, but I am NOT THINKING ABOUT THAT) and the skin flaked and peeled. It’s still uncomfortable, but it’s mostly just itchy – it feels like a new tattoo in the middle of healing, and I have to moisturize it nightly so it doesn’t get all tight and scaly. All my panicking was for not, but I was truly lost – I’d never burned and blistered like this, no one in our group had either, I couldn’t check the internet thoroughly for information, and there was no one I could go to and ask. I’m glad it turned out okay, but I never want to go through that again. I will take a regular old sunburn anytime, thanks. Blisters are disgusting.