Just regarding those oh-so prickly pears. As Paddy says, a spoon and fork to catch the little blighters works well, then using a sharp knife to extract the fruit and absolutely do not touch them. In fact, I swear that sometimes you only have to glance in their direction and they'll get you! The trouble is that they have very fine spines which you don't notice because you are busy looking at the ones like spears. The fine ones are like a folding anchor – they go in without much trouble but when you try and pull them out, the anchor part opens under your skin so they refuse to leave. And they'll give you grief for days ...
What I use to get them off the cactus is a pair of tongs. Mine are flat-ended but I think spaghetti tongs would also do nicely – should you happened to have a pair with you. You can also buy purpose-made wooden ones here on La Palma which are rather like chopsticks with a pin half way along which joins them together but allows them to open and close. Not much good if you are walking because they are usually about 2-metres long.
If you don't have a range of implements about your person, you can make your own chopsticks from handy bits of twigs.
Once you have a good grip of the tuno (as they call them), twist it to make a nice clean break. Then cut each end off and slice down the middle lengthwise. If the fruit is just exactly right for eating, the skin can be peeled back cleanly leaving the oval shape fruit whole inside.
If you want to get the spines off them so you can tackle them with your hands, use 'brezo' - a bush of the heather family they feed the goats with – to literally brush off the spines. Put them on the ground then brush them for a good few minutes, letting them roll about on the ground as you do it. Once you have done it thoroughly, they are dis-armed.
Our neighbours at the farm next to us have another trick. Having collected the tunos and carried them back in a 10 litre plastic paint bucket balanced on the head, they put them in old bath with pine needles in it, then use a hand brush to mix them around and that works! But I do agree that a bath is a slightly inconvenient walking accessory.
