I add a touch of romance to the decor by hanging my orchid lei, a gift upon boarding, on the back of the door.
It was surreal to chat with my clinical skills instructors with a lei around my neck and sand stuck between my toes.
But the spicy scent of tuberose wafted around my head, erasing my jet lag (a lei, I decided, is Hawaiian aromatherapy).
It is performed by the remarkably wasp-waisted young man who, earlier on, put a shell lei (tonight's little present) around my neck as I got off the bus.
"Thank you for everything the people of the Marshall Islands have done for me during my stay," the 37-year-old fisherman said through an interpreter as Loeak placed a woven lei garland around his neck.
But behind and between the Madison Avenue-type shops I found other desirable objects within my means: batik-print muumuus, an array of Hello Kitty Hawaii items (Kitty is wearing a lei and a grass skirt), and, to my delight, the plastic hula dolls of my childhood, only $14.95.
When the shop clerk found out I intended to wear the lei (rather than carry it home in a plastic clamshell container), she tied the ends together with a bright pink ribbon, lifted it over my head, and -- to my surprise -- embraced me across the checkout counter.
We'd been planning this special trip for my 50th birthday since he showed up on my doorstep six weeks earlier with a box that contained a coconut-shell bra, pineapple, coconut chips, a fake lei and a postcard that read, "Hawaii?" and three options for an answer.
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"Direitos por lei, ou leis por direito?" (Rights by Law or Laws by Right?).
