So the story goes... when I had first arrived on the island of Saba, Phil, our Alaskan friend Wayne and I had began to explore this Jurrasic Park-esq island, trail by trail. On one trail named the Spring Bay trail, we were brought to the more arid and windy eastern side of the island where we were offered beautiful views of the coastline. On the way down the trail we came upon a bush that had little, green apple-like fruit growing on it. In some craze of carelessness I picked one off and smelled it. Mmm pure bliss! The little fruit smelled of guava fruit. I took a tiny bite. As soon as I bit into it I knew something wasn't right and spit it out. For the next two hours I had a burning sensation in my throat that eventually subsided in a couple of hours. Needless to say, I made a mental note to stay clear of this tantalizing fruit.
Three weeks later, on the same hike with some fellow students I wanted to show to my friends a plant that smelled sweet but was most likely toxic. In doing so I sniffed up some of it's deadly juices up my nose into the fragile mucous membranes that line the nose. This time was different. I knew immediately that this second reaction was much worse! After a few hours my nose felt as though I had crushed up hot chili peppers and stuffed them up my nose. I have never been pepper sprayed before but I would think that the feeling would be similar. The burning sensation was only temporarily relieved by breathing fresh air in. The burning and swelling of my nose continued to worsen. My nose became tender to the touch as though there were blisters or open sores inside my nose. By the time the swelling reached my throat, along with a sensation akin to a raging fire in my nose, it was extremely hard to breath.
My experience at the hospital, both the first and second time were interesting. I wish not to divulge the experience one would have at a hospital on a small Caribbean island for fear that people may wrongly judge such a wonderful place as Saba, but I will say that the health care I received was short of what I would expect back home. After 4 or so hours dozing in and out of consciousness I decided I wanted to go home. I now vividly remember walking down the empty hospital corridor, holding on to the wall for support in my drugged state and asking the nurse if I could go home. To which she replied, "please go back to your room." I obliged. I decided however, that I did indeed want to go home and a second time wobbled down the corridor to a different nurse, "I would like to go home please, could you call me a cab?" She responded, "are you sure you want to go home? You don't look so good." With my swollen nose, heavy breathing, swollen, half shut left eye and in a drugged state I said with all my heart, yes. A friend picked me up and after coming home and another several hours of intense burning, and labored breathing...the symptoms finally subsided. Overall the symptoms lasted over 12 hours before they subsided.
A little about the "Apple of Death" that did this to me.
Manchineel. Hippomane mancinella.
Aka: Little apple of death, poison guava, beach apple.
One of the most poisonous trees in the world, it grows near and on beaches throughout the Caribbean and Central America.
Contact with the manchineel tree, it's bark, leaves, fruit or sap can cause blistering, burns, inflammation and swelling when in contact with skin, mucous membranes and eyes.
Carib Indians used the sap of this tree to poison their darts and were known to poison the water supply of their enemies with the leaves. As a form of torture they would tie victims to this tree and leave them exposed.
Although thoughts of dying alone on this island did cross my mind, it was all no more than a learning experience. One that I will most definitely never forget.
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