Wednesday, March 15, 2017 – Huahine

Today Bill still felt really awful, but we had managed to sleep about 8 hours the night before, which was much needed and made both of us feel more human. We had breakfast at the pension—the usual fare, but this time with different fruit including something that doesn’t translate into English very well, called a star apple, and French Polynesian grapefruit, which is less acidic and bitter and more sweet than the grapefruit in North America. We think it tastes similar to a pomelo.

Breakfast.

Teps' son loves Miri Miri, the kitten, and Miri Miri's mother pictured here.

We walked to the pharmacy and April asked the pharmacist to see if there was anything she could take for her swollen feet and ankles. He said there wasn’t much a pregnant person could take, but suggested that she wear flip flops instead of more constraining shoes like runners while her feet are swollen. He said that the heat and humidity were undoubtedly not helping. He also advised her to drink tonnes of fluids. This is difficult as April already has to go to the washroom all the time as a result of being pregnant.

We walked into Fare, looking in a touristy shop along the way, and then went to the Super Fare Market where April tried on flip flops and chose the most comfortable pair. We also picked up a baguette, drinks, and some lovely French cheese for lunch. We then walked back to the Pension along the beach. We had lunch early at 11 AM. The two pension cats joined us and begged vigorously for pieces of cheese. While the mother cat tried to take the sandwiches right from our hands, the kitten was much more mild mannered, choosing to beg from the floor with the dog. The kitten let us hold him and pet him, which made for a lovely calorie free desert.

Pension Meherio

Another view of our home away from home

One can use bicycles for free

For showering off after the beach.

Sharing lunch.

Miri Miri the kitten (he loves to be pet so they named him Miri Miri which means caress in Polynesian).

Mother and baby hopefully waiting for more food.

The pond by Pension Meherio.

Pension Meherio is surrounded by beautiful flowers that Teps, the owner, planted (his degree was in agriculture).

Tiare flowers smell like a heavenly gardenia.

In the afternoon we fell asleep in our room but were awakened by a torrential downpour and what sounded like a little bit of thunder. We hung around the pension until the rain stopped and the sun came out again. We walked to the beach and turned right to walk the short distance to Treehouse Pearls. We visited this pearl vendor, Ray Marks, when he just had a plastic table and a hand painted sign by the beach 9 years ago. The place is considerably fancier now with a treehouse retail shop that displays various black pearl jewellery pieces as well as loose pearls. This is an obvious increase in overhead, including staff (Ray was not around).

April tried on several black pearl necklaces, however, we left empty handed as the pearls offered were mostly baroque or circled and we were not impressed by the prices, plus there were very few loose pearls available for purchase to create a piece of jewellery (usually a more economical option than buying a pre-made piece).

This necklace, in a lariat style, had 218 black pearls on it.

April felt the first sign of a cold coming on, a very sore throat and a stuffy nose. We rested at the pension after the trip to the pearl shop. It was pouring with rain again and it was very, very humid and hot. We spent some time composing blog entries.

Pouring rain.

You try looking this effortless while perching on a edge of a swinging door.

We did not have to go out to find dinner, as Teps, the owner of the pension, ordered pizza for the guests staying here. April had a shrimp pizza with garlic which turned out to be shockingly good, as the shrimp was cooked perfectly (the chances of this happening at home would be almost zero). Bill had a Hawaiian pizza that he also thought was good. We only made it through half a pizza each and saved the rest for lunch the next day.

A giant hermit crab came into the kitchen at the pension and Teps told us that he has one twice as big that lives under his house.

Pizza for dinner.

The guy on the pizza boxes puts special toppings on his pizza.