Beware the Cholla desert cactus!

Had an enforced rest day in the town of 29 Palms today. As you can see from the photo of the Main Street, it's hardly a bustling hive of activity, and not the obvious choice of venue for a couple of travelling climbers, but sometimes on trips such as this, you've just got to roll with it, when the unexpected happens. 

In this case, (according to the doctor that I've just seen) the unexpected seems to have happened a day ago...

On our last day in Joshua Tree, my ears had started to become really itchy and red. When we got to the valley, they were burning, and by evening, I had a seriously itchy and somewhat alarming rash appearing. A cream from the Pharmacist had no effect, so we tracked down a doctor before I went completely potty trying to resist the overwhelming desire to itch! The local doctor (thank goodness!) diagnosed it straight away as an allergic reaction to a particular cactus that grows in Joshua Tree! The Cholla Cactus is known locally as the jumping cactus as it has many little barbs and needles that are easily attached to skin or clothes even if they are gently brushed past. (One of the reasons that Cowboys wear thick leather Chaps apparently). Anyway, a long story short, is that seeing how we were camped amongst said cactus, (see photo below) it seemed a pretty good theory. I was given cream and tablets and told not to scratch! Easier said than done!

Determined to make the most of the day, and take my mind off my now bright red, swollen, and irresistibly itchy ears I took a stroll along the dusty highway into town to soak up a bit of the atmosphere. True to its name, there were at least 29 Palms, but quite a few looked as though they'd seen better days.

It didn't take long to walk through town. There were a few dusty looking takeaways, and some slightly scary looking bars with bars on the windows. I thought about getting a haircut at the local barbers, but couldn't decide whether to go for the civilian or marine style...

Luckily, we'd managed to find a crazy little place to stay, which was a little haven from the world, with great views down the valley and gave us the perfect place to rest.