The Scorpion & The Boot

The Scorpion & The Boots

When I was a child, I had pretty severe allergic reactions to any kind of insect bite or sting. My skin went into hyperdrive every time a mosquito even came close. Nevermind horseflies: my whole leg would swell up for days after the vampires had had their meal.

It made me scared and weary of the critters. Ironically, my family kept telling me to "get a thicker skin" - not so much because of the bites, they were rather commenting on my sensitive nature, which made me react in a similar fashion when energy vampires were being mean and draining me. If only it were that easy to change who you are.

Fast forward to my arrival in Oaxaca, Mexico, Land of a Million Giant Bugs. People will gleefully tell you all kinds of horror stories about which creepy crawly has which deadly sting, and which mosquito will give you which disease.

Here's the thing: Anything that scares me usually equally fascinates me. About two weeks after my arrival, I noticed this beautiful little statue on my bedside table. "What a nice detail", I thought to myself, and then I looked closer.

That little statue was alive! It was actually a scorpion, who was as startled as I by our encounter. Thankfully, a neighbor came to the rescue and liberated my visitor out into the garden. I was just fascinated, but absolutely clueless about what to do. It was the first time in my life that my eyes had set sights on a scorpion, and it was equally exhilarating as it was scary. I had looked at so many photos of exotic wildlife during my childhood, dreaming that I would meet them some time. and here I was, standing right in front of one of them ... but it was deemed very dangerous to humans!

Every travel guide and every seasoned traveller will tell you to always shake your shoes out in the morning, just in case some critter was using it as a Bed & Breakfast for the night. And for years, that's what I did. I diligently turned my shoes over and shook them out every morning for over a decade. But guess what? Never in about 16 years was there any scorpion inside.

And so I guess I let that advice slip at some point.

One early morning, on my way to the mountains with the dogs, I suddenly felt a sharp sting in my toe. I immediately knew it was a scorpion. Never before had I been stung by one, but there was simply an inner knowing. I took the boot off in the middle of the street, shook it out, and lo and behold, a little eight-legged creature with two pincers and a mighty stinger came shooting out and scurrying away.

"Damn", I thought and every nightmare story of scorpion stings I had ever heard ran through my head. "How is my body going to react to the poison?"

We hurried back home (half-barefooted as I was), and I remembered my mum's home remedy for horsefly-bites, so I dipped my toe in vinegar for a good while. Surprisingly, there really was no swelling and about half an hour later, there was no more pain either. The dogs and I still went on our usual walk, and everything just seemed a bit brighter and more alive than usual.

Some time later I understood that the little scorpion had really just fired a warning shot to let me know he was in the boot. And actually, my foot and him had shared the boot for a good half mile before this incident. He only stung because my toe was sliding up front, and he was in danger of being crushed.

Some creatures are small, but powerful. They get a bad reputation, because they can potentially cause a lot of pain and damage with that power, but in my experience, they don't usually abuse it, because we're simply not on their menu. They use that power for productive purposes – such as killing their prey – rather than to blindly poison somebody, just because humans are bigger and might seem frightening to them. How much we can learn from the animal kingdom: Choose your battles wisely.

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