{"id":2275,"date":"2025-02-04T04:16:56","date_gmt":"2025-02-04T04:16:56","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.koren.korenscreativearts.com\/?p=2275"},"modified":"2025-02-04T13:25:59","modified_gmt":"2025-02-04T13:25:59","slug":"our-first-day-of-fun-in-the-sun","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.koren.korenscreativearts.com\/?p=2275","title":{"rendered":"Our first day of fun in the sun\u2026"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">February 2, 2025<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">On Saturday Feb 1st, I arrived in Mexico after my flight from Newark was delayed. I met Howard, Louis and Jess at the brand new airport in Tulum. Michelle had booked us a ride with a driver. They had just finished eating a Domino\u2019s pizza &#8211; I of course had to tease Howard &#8211; who comes to Mexico and eats Domino\u2019s pizza???<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">We met up with Michelle, Melody and Lola (Leslie-Anne\u2019s name while travelling in Spanish speaking countries) at our Airbnb house in Playa del Carmen. It is beautiful. There are four bedrooms, a nice kitchen, and a couple of outdoor areas. We chilled in our mini pool and went out for dinner. We had some fantastic Mexican food and I got to have my first plate of guacamole. I am planning on consuming record amounts of guacamole every day.<br \/><\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1024\" height=\"576\" src=\"http:\/\/www.koren.korenscreativearts.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/02\/17e291f2-02e5-4a80-bfa6-68648d78e823-1-1024x576.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-2291\" srcset=\"http:\/\/www.koren.korenscreativearts.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/02\/17e291f2-02e5-4a80-bfa6-68648d78e823-1-1024x576.jpg 1024w, http:\/\/www.koren.korenscreativearts.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/02\/17e291f2-02e5-4a80-bfa6-68648d78e823-1-300x169.jpg 300w, http:\/\/www.koren.korenscreativearts.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/02\/17e291f2-02e5-4a80-bfa6-68648d78e823-1-768x432.jpg 768w, http:\/\/www.koren.korenscreativearts.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/02\/17e291f2-02e5-4a80-bfa6-68648d78e823-1-1536x864.jpg 1536w, http:\/\/www.koren.korenscreativearts.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/02\/17e291f2-02e5-4a80-bfa6-68648d78e823-1.jpg 2000w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px\" \/><figcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\"><em>Our mini pool<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large is-resized\"><a href=\"http:\/\/www.koren.korenscreativearts.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/02\/image-4-scaled.jpeg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"768\" height=\"1024\" src=\"http:\/\/www.koren.korenscreativearts.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/02\/image-4-768x1024.jpeg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-2278\" style=\"width:838px;height:auto\" srcset=\"http:\/\/www.koren.korenscreativearts.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/02\/image-4-768x1024.jpeg 768w, http:\/\/www.koren.korenscreativearts.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/02\/image-4-225x300.jpeg 225w, http:\/\/www.koren.korenscreativearts.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/02\/image-4-1152x1536.jpeg 1152w, http:\/\/www.koren.korenscreativearts.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/02\/image-4-1536x2048.jpeg 1536w, http:\/\/www.koren.korenscreativearts.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/02\/image-4-scaled.jpeg 1920w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 768px) 100vw, 768px\" \/><\/a><figcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\"><em>Guacamole makes me happy<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\"><a href=\"http:\/\/www.koren.korenscreativearts.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/02\/image-5-scaled.jpeg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"768\" height=\"1024\" src=\"http:\/\/www.koren.korenscreativearts.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/02\/image-5-768x1024.jpeg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-2279\" srcset=\"http:\/\/www.koren.korenscreativearts.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/02\/image-5-768x1024.jpeg 768w, http:\/\/www.koren.korenscreativearts.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/02\/image-5-225x300.jpeg 225w, http:\/\/www.koren.korenscreativearts.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/02\/image-5-1152x1536.jpeg 1152w, http:\/\/www.koren.korenscreativearts.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/02\/image-5-1536x2048.jpeg 1536w, http:\/\/www.koren.korenscreativearts.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/02\/image-5-scaled.jpeg 1920w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 768px) 100vw, 768px\" \/><\/a><figcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\"><em>fish tacos were also great<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Sunday (Feb 2) we ate breakfast at home, and Howard and Melody and I went for a long walk to check out the area. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large is-resized\"><a href=\"http:\/\/www.koren.korenscreativearts.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/02\/image-6-scaled.jpeg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"768\" height=\"1024\" src=\"http:\/\/www.koren.korenscreativearts.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/02\/image-6-768x1024.jpeg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-2280\" style=\"width:855px;height:auto\" srcset=\"http:\/\/www.koren.korenscreativearts.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/02\/image-6-768x1024.jpeg 768w, http:\/\/www.koren.korenscreativearts.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/02\/image-6-225x300.jpeg 225w, http:\/\/www.koren.korenscreativearts.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/02\/image-6-1152x1536.jpeg 1152w, http:\/\/www.koren.korenscreativearts.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/02\/image-6-1536x2048.jpeg 1536w, http:\/\/www.koren.korenscreativearts.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/02\/image-6-scaled.jpeg 1920w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 768px) 100vw, 768px\" \/><\/a><figcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\"><em>A cool sculpture on our walk<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\"><a href=\"http:\/\/www.koren.korenscreativearts.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/02\/image-7.jpeg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1024\" height=\"407\" src=\"http:\/\/www.koren.korenscreativearts.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/02\/image-7-1024x407.jpeg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-2281\" srcset=\"http:\/\/www.koren.korenscreativearts.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/02\/image-7-1024x407.jpeg 1024w, http:\/\/www.koren.korenscreativearts.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/02\/image-7-300x119.jpeg 300w, http:\/\/www.koren.korenscreativearts.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/02\/image-7-768x305.jpeg 768w, http:\/\/www.koren.korenscreativearts.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/02\/image-7-1536x610.jpeg 1536w, http:\/\/www.koren.korenscreativearts.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/02\/image-7.jpeg 1924w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px\" \/><\/a><figcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\"><em>We also saw this on our walk. Yes it is a pig thrown in the back of a pickup truck\u2026<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large is-resized\"><a href=\"http:\/\/www.koren.korenscreativearts.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/02\/image-8-scaled.jpeg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1024\" height=\"768\" src=\"http:\/\/www.koren.korenscreativearts.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/02\/image-8-1024x768.jpeg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-2282\" style=\"width:840px;height:auto\" srcset=\"http:\/\/www.koren.korenscreativearts.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/02\/image-8-1024x768.jpeg 1024w, http:\/\/www.koren.korenscreativearts.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/02\/image-8-300x225.jpeg 300w, http:\/\/www.koren.korenscreativearts.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/02\/image-8-768x576.jpeg 768w, http:\/\/www.koren.korenscreativearts.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/02\/image-8-1536x1152.jpeg 1536w, http:\/\/www.koren.korenscreativearts.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/02\/image-8-2048x1536.jpeg 2048w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px\" \/><\/a><figcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\"><em>We stumbled upon a kosher restaurant called Moshe Cube, complete with tfillin and tehillim displayed in the window .<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Also walked by more than one makeshift food stand selling tacos and other yummy looking things from the back of a pickup truck.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\"><a href=\"http:\/\/www.koren.korenscreativearts.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/02\/image-10-scaled.jpeg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1024\" height=\"768\" src=\"http:\/\/www.koren.korenscreativearts.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/02\/image-10-1024x768.jpeg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-2284\" srcset=\"http:\/\/www.koren.korenscreativearts.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/02\/image-10-1024x768.jpeg 1024w, http:\/\/www.koren.korenscreativearts.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/02\/image-10-300x225.jpeg 300w, http:\/\/www.koren.korenscreativearts.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/02\/image-10-768x576.jpeg 768w, http:\/\/www.koren.korenscreativearts.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/02\/image-10-1536x1152.jpeg 1536w, http:\/\/www.koren.korenscreativearts.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/02\/image-10-2048x1536.jpeg 2048w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px\" \/><\/a><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\"><a href=\"http:\/\/www.koren.korenscreativearts.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/02\/image-9-scaled.jpeg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"856\" height=\"1024\" src=\"http:\/\/www.koren.korenscreativearts.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/02\/image-9-856x1024.jpeg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-2283\" srcset=\"http:\/\/www.koren.korenscreativearts.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/02\/image-9-856x1024.jpeg 856w, http:\/\/www.koren.korenscreativearts.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/02\/image-9-251x300.jpeg 251w, http:\/\/www.koren.korenscreativearts.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/02\/image-9-768x919.jpeg 768w, http:\/\/www.koren.korenscreativearts.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/02\/image-9-1283x1536.jpeg 1283w, http:\/\/www.koren.korenscreativearts.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/02\/image-9-1711x2048.jpeg 1711w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 856px) 100vw, 856px\" \/><\/a><figcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\"><em>Our first view of the beach in the morning.<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">After we came home, we relaxed for a bit, and then walked to the main tourist area for lunch, as well as bringing our stuff to hang out at the beach for a short while.<br \/><\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\"><a href=\"http:\/\/www.koren.korenscreativearts.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/02\/image-11-scaled.jpeg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1024\" height=\"768\" src=\"http:\/\/www.koren.korenscreativearts.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/02\/image-11-1024x768.jpeg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-2285\" srcset=\"http:\/\/www.koren.korenscreativearts.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/02\/image-11-1024x768.jpeg 1024w, http:\/\/www.koren.korenscreativearts.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/02\/image-11-300x225.jpeg 300w, http:\/\/www.koren.korenscreativearts.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/02\/image-11-768x576.jpeg 768w, http:\/\/www.koren.korenscreativearts.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/02\/image-11-1536x1152.jpeg 1536w, http:\/\/www.koren.korenscreativearts.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/02\/image-11-2048x1536.jpeg 2048w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px\" \/><\/a><figcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\"><em>Second plate of guacamole. It looked very impressive but Melody and I had to doctor it up a bit with the hot sauces, salt, and limes<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"> It is very hot here and I assumed I wouldn\u2019t last too long in the sun. It took us awhile to trek up the crowded beach to find a decent place to hang out. I was flabbergasted to learn that it costed $1200 pesos (approx $85 CDN) to rent a lounge chair and umbrella for the day, (we were arriving mid afternoon) but they offered you $600 (approx $42.50) pesos back in credit for drinks from their place. Small consolation in my opinion. We opted not to rent the lounge chair and umbrella. We finally found a spot and put down our sarongs and towels with no umbrella.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The water was lovely, the sand was soft, the beach was fairly crowded, but it was nice. I managed to have gelato both before and after the beach, so I was pretty content. The second gelato place sold the medium size in the shape of a flower which was pretty cool.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\"><a href=\"http:\/\/www.koren.korenscreativearts.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/02\/image-12-scaled.jpeg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"768\" height=\"1024\" src=\"http:\/\/www.koren.korenscreativearts.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/02\/image-12-768x1024.jpeg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-2286\" srcset=\"http:\/\/www.koren.korenscreativearts.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/02\/image-12-768x1024.jpeg 768w, http:\/\/www.koren.korenscreativearts.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/02\/image-12-225x300.jpeg 225w, http:\/\/www.koren.korenscreativearts.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/02\/image-12-1152x1536.jpeg 1152w, http:\/\/www.koren.korenscreativearts.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/02\/image-12-1536x2048.jpeg 1536w, http:\/\/www.koren.korenscreativearts.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/02\/image-12-scaled.jpeg 1920w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 768px) 100vw, 768px\" \/><\/a><figcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\"><em>Michelle showing off her flower<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">After a lot of walking in the heat, we returned home and all cooled off in our mini pool and had some down time and cold showers (the hot water didn\u2019t seem to be working).<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">We ended our day with some of us going out for dinner, and some of us crashing early at home. I had some ceviche with Mahi Mahi and even ordered a cocktail &#8211; a pineapple mango and coconut mojito. It was the end of a great day.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large is-resized\"><a href=\"http:\/\/www.koren.korenscreativearts.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/02\/image-13-scaled.jpeg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"768\" height=\"1024\" src=\"http:\/\/www.koren.korenscreativearts.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/02\/image-13-768x1024.jpeg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-2287\" style=\"width:840px;height:auto\" srcset=\"http:\/\/www.koren.korenscreativearts.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/02\/image-13-768x1024.jpeg 768w, http:\/\/www.koren.korenscreativearts.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/02\/image-13-225x300.jpeg 225w, http:\/\/www.koren.korenscreativearts.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/02\/image-13-1152x1536.jpeg 1152w, http:\/\/www.koren.korenscreativearts.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/02\/image-13-1536x2048.jpeg 1536w, http:\/\/www.koren.korenscreativearts.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/02\/image-13-scaled.jpeg 1920w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 768px) 100vw, 768px\" \/><\/a><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\"><a href=\"http:\/\/www.koren.korenscreativearts.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/02\/image-14-scaled.jpeg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"768\" height=\"1024\" src=\"http:\/\/www.koren.korenscreativearts.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/02\/image-14-768x1024.jpeg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-2288\" srcset=\"http:\/\/www.koren.korenscreativearts.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/02\/image-14-768x1024.jpeg 768w, http:\/\/www.koren.korenscreativearts.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/02\/image-14-225x300.jpeg 225w, http:\/\/www.koren.korenscreativearts.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/02\/image-14-1152x1536.jpeg 1152w, http:\/\/www.koren.korenscreativearts.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/02\/image-14-1536x2048.jpeg 1536w, http:\/\/www.koren.korenscreativearts.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/02\/image-14-scaled.jpeg 1920w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 768px) 100vw, 768px\" \/><\/a><\/figure>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>February 2, 2025 On Saturday Feb 1st, I arrived in Mexico after my flight from Newark was delayed. I met Howard, Louis and Jess at the brand new airport in Tulum. Michelle had booked us a ride with a driver. &hellip; <a href=\"http:\/\/www.koren.korenscreativearts.com\/?p=2275\">Continue reading <span class=\"meta-nav\">&rarr;<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_s2mail":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2275","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.koren.korenscreativearts.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2275","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.koren.korenscreativearts.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.koren.korenscreativearts.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.koren.korenscreativearts.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.koren.korenscreativearts.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=2275"}],"version-history":[{"count":6,"href":"http:\/\/www.koren.korenscreativearts.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2275\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2305,"href":"http:\/\/www.koren.korenscreativearts.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2275\/revisions\/2305"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.koren.korenscreativearts.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=2275"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.koren.korenscreativearts.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=2275"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.koren.korenscreativearts.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=2275"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}