I’m very fortunate that my latest “buying trip” has brought me to these beautiful islands in French Polynesia. Okay, to be honest, that isn’t the primary reason for my trip. My husband’s first cousin is getting married. Okay that’s not entirely true. They were married in Hawaii but his wife is Tahitian so they are also having a Tahitian fête to celebrate their love! So, I’m really here for a wedding/family reunion of sorts and “buying trip” is just the cherry on top. Side note: For the record, on a flight to Tahiti from Hawaii the fête starts the minute you get to the airport! Music, adult beverages, laughter and fun! The flight was an adventure! Traveling with children is ALWAYS an adventure, am I right? More on that later (see Mommy Monday).

We didn’t get to bed until 1:30am last night and had a pick up time of 5:15am to head to the market. We had kind of a rough night (nap) with Jackson waking us up but the spectacular sunrise made up for it – truly breathtaking. The photo above doesn’t do it justice. The main farmers market is on Sundays and EARLY! Like Hawaii, in Tahiti there is “Tahiti time” ha ha! We left the house at 6:15am. The market was packed – produce was mainly citrus, lilikoi, banana, coconut, papaya, ulu, watermelon, cabbage, zucchini and tomatoes – very similar produce to markets in Hawaii.

From what I understand, merchants primarily get their produce and fish from the outer islands and ferry them back to the main island of Tahiti to sell. Unfortunately, today all of the pearl merchants were closed. Most businesses are closed on Sundays… in fact, we had to head straight to the supermarket to get some errands done because they close at 10:00am on Sunday, then everyone goes to church and at noon they “tama’ara” (party)! The weather was perfect for partying

The “ma’a tahiti” (food) at OUR party was onolicious! Poisson cru, baked breadfruit, sweet potato and taro… the Tahitian version of chicken luau, fermented raw fish, fresh fruit and pa’e (which is kind of like kulolo but made with bananas instead of taro) for dessert (top left under the fruit).

As always, music was everywhere with guests playing music and singing. The hubby and I did our standard song, “I’m Yours” and I was asked to sing Amy Hanaialii’s “Palehua” – P.S. singing in front of other musicians and singers is nerve-wracking! I was totally shaking!

Plus, as you can see, my son (far left) had plenty of friends to play with, but instead chose to breastfeed right at that moment (he always has impeccable timing) so I was multi-tasking too! lol

The long and short of it? When you’re with good friends and family, any day is a good day. So today was a really good one. (Despite stepping on an ant hill of flying red ants that bit me multiple times) Even that had a silver-lining… here is the stunning sunset I captured right as they devoured my feet.

Life’s swell… and yes, we’re exhausted. Good night!