As part of my Argentina excursion, we went on a trip to Aconcagua. Mind you, we didn't actually climb the thing, but we did get close enough to see it and basically do a day trip up there. The really interesting part of it for me was that for the majority of this trip, I was one-eyed. Yup, I was the one-eyed man.
First, a little background. I assumed the sun was going to be out and I'd need some sort of sunglasses to deal with that occurrence. I don't have prescription sunglasses, so that meant that I needed to wear my contacts. I'd already brought them and all of the associated gear (contacts case and solution), so I was all set. And for the first hour or so of the trip, everything was coming up roses.
However, we were walking around, and I rubbed my left eye. It's not like I was gouging myself, but the motion was enough to disturb my contact. If you've worn (soft) contacts before, you know that this occurrence isn't a very big deal (either that, or I'm just weird). Usually, I just blink a couple of times and the offending contact slides back into place. Incidentally, this is one of the many benefits of keeping your contacts clean and well lubricated in your eye. That tiny film of liquid helps guide it back into place, and you go back to living your life.
This time, however, the gods decided I didn't have enough going on in my life. Instead of sliding in to place, the contact kept sliding out. Blinking actually made it worse, so that the contact was now folded in two and half out of my eyeball. Well, that's how it felt to my eyeball. It was windy out, so I quickly grabbed the contact to prevent it from falling or flying away. A quick visual inspection confirmed that it was, in fact, folded in two (that's never a good thing).
However, I had two problems to deal with: it was windy, and I had to keep the contact from drying out. I was in the middle of a hike, so I didn't exactly have a sink and a mirror handy. Instead, I borrowed a move I'd seen in a movie recently: I licked the thing. I know, I know, not exactly an ideal situation. But I didn't have any other options, and I was pretty sure I wasn't going to give myself some crazy infection.
That dealt with the second problem, but not the first. Luckily, I had a couple of wind shields in the form of my two travel companions handy. So, I asked for a little cover, wet the contact, and lined it up on my finger. Of course, right as I started to move my arm in an upward motion, the wind kicked up. In a new direction, that didn't have a person-sized shield in front of it. My tiny little contact quite easily flew out of my hand. On the bright side, I didn't have to worry about infection anymore.
So, I was now faced with the prospect of facing the rest of the day with only one contact in. I have horrible eye sight, so taking the other one out was not a viable option. I originally thought I had my glasses tucked away in my backpack, but that was not the case. So, I was back to the one-eyed man for the rest of the afternoon.
Allow me to share my discoveries from my day as a one-eyed man:
First, a little background. I assumed the sun was going to be out and I'd need some sort of sunglasses to deal with that occurrence. I don't have prescription sunglasses, so that meant that I needed to wear my contacts. I'd already brought them and all of the associated gear (contacts case and solution), so I was all set. And for the first hour or so of the trip, everything was coming up roses.
However, we were walking around, and I rubbed my left eye. It's not like I was gouging myself, but the motion was enough to disturb my contact. If you've worn (soft) contacts before, you know that this occurrence isn't a very big deal (either that, or I'm just weird). Usually, I just blink a couple of times and the offending contact slides back into place. Incidentally, this is one of the many benefits of keeping your contacts clean and well lubricated in your eye. That tiny film of liquid helps guide it back into place, and you go back to living your life.
This time, however, the gods decided I didn't have enough going on in my life. Instead of sliding in to place, the contact kept sliding out. Blinking actually made it worse, so that the contact was now folded in two and half out of my eyeball. Well, that's how it felt to my eyeball. It was windy out, so I quickly grabbed the contact to prevent it from falling or flying away. A quick visual inspection confirmed that it was, in fact, folded in two (that's never a good thing).
However, I had two problems to deal with: it was windy, and I had to keep the contact from drying out. I was in the middle of a hike, so I didn't exactly have a sink and a mirror handy. Instead, I borrowed a move I'd seen in a movie recently: I licked the thing. I know, I know, not exactly an ideal situation. But I didn't have any other options, and I was pretty sure I wasn't going to give myself some crazy infection.
That dealt with the second problem, but not the first. Luckily, I had a couple of wind shields in the form of my two travel companions handy. So, I asked for a little cover, wet the contact, and lined it up on my finger. Of course, right as I started to move my arm in an upward motion, the wind kicked up. In a new direction, that didn't have a person-sized shield in front of it. My tiny little contact quite easily flew out of my hand. On the bright side, I didn't have to worry about infection anymore.
So, I was now faced with the prospect of facing the rest of the day with only one contact in. I have horrible eye sight, so taking the other one out was not a viable option. I originally thought I had my glasses tucked away in my backpack, but that was not the case. So, I was back to the one-eyed man for the rest of the afternoon.
Allow me to share my discoveries from my day as a one-eyed man:
- It is possible to see fairly well with only one contact in for extended periods of time. Apparently one eye compensates for the other. Also, it helps if you're mostly looking at large objects like mountains.
- Spending prolonged periods of time with only one contact can give you a headache as your eyes and brain try to compensate. Keeping your eyes closed for brief periods can help.
- Sunlight + headache makes things interesting. Having a pair of shades already handy can be a wonderful thing, even if you do have to wear the shades indoors (e.g., while riding on a bus).
- If you find yourself in circumstances where you have to carry around a spare set of glasses, it's probably a good idea to keep that pair on your person. They're not going to do you much good in a hostel luggage room.
- Prescription sunglasses are a much smarter idea than I have previously given them credit for
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