Daily Archives: December 7, 2015

Puerto Rico on Ice: Outdoor Tropical Ice Skating

Ice skating outside…in the tropics. When we first heard about this we thought it was a joke…but nope, the municipality of Mayaguez in warm and tropical Puerto Rico decided to create an ice skating rink right in the middle of the town plaza. You never know what you might find in Puerto Rico and this was one of those crazy things that we just had to check it out.

Tropical Ice Skating
Set amidst palm trees and ferns: an ice skating rink

We met up with our good friends Missy and Ben and their great kiddos and headed to downtown Mayaguez. It was a little chaotic and hectic getting through all the paperwork waivers and getting all set up, but it worked out in the end. It was completely free including the ice skates and we could skate for a 20 minute session at a time. They will be doing this through Christmas I believe.

With the kids ice skating
Britton and me and two of our favorite little people -getting our skates on

We had to wear pants which would be understandable in normal ice skating situations, but here, we were just sweating from the heat of the mid-day sun. The refrigeration units were working hard to keep all that ice frozen, but it was still a little watery and super slick.

Refrigeration unit
The beast behind the whole operation

Britton skating
Britton skating on the slick wet side

Ice skating
The sunny parts that weren’t covered with the tents were even slicker!

Cassie and Jul Mayaguez
What a beautiful place to ice skate!

Although not very practical it was super fun! I haven’t been ice skating in a very long time. There is actually a large indoor ice skating rink in Aguadilla, but we haven’t checked it out yet. It’s so funny…if you can think it, it can and probably has been done regardless of feasibility or budget crises!

After our skate session we walked around the plaza for a little while and admired all the Christmas decorations.

Alcaldia Mayaguez
Mayaguez Plaza and Alcaldia

Alcaldia
Checking out the alcaldia Christmas display 

Nativity Scene in Town Hall
No pretense of separation of church and state here! Nativity scene right inside of Town Hall

Afterward we ran some errands around Mayaguez on the busy Sunday afternoon. It was starting to get late and so we decided we would go back and check out the lights in the plaza. Mayaguez has one of the better displays. There may not be any snow on the ground, but Puerto Rico knows how to light up with the Christmas spirit…including this patinaje sobre hielo. It was a gorgeous end to a winter wonderland day.

Lights in Mayaguez Me and Britton
Lights of Mayaguez

Mayaguez lit up at night

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