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.
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.
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.
The beast behind the whole operation
Britton skating on the slick wet side
The sunny parts that weren’t covered with the tents were even slicker!
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.
Mayaguez Plaza and Alcaldia
Checking out the alcaldia Christmas display
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 of Mayaguez
Beautiful Christmas displays! PR may be “bankrupt” but somebody around there has some dough for putting on a show. Such an interesting place to live.
We have a new ice rink two blocks or so away from us. It’s called Ice in Paradise and they already have hockey teams practicing! It’s a mile from the beach, so you could surf in the morning and skate in the afternoon.
Mayagüez is such an odd town. Sometimes I miss it but then I remember the copious rains and the smells and then I miss it all over again.
About the bankrupt comment it is important to keep in mind that in order to make money you sometimes have to spend money. And while I don’t necessarily think that opening a free ice skating rink in Mayagüez is a solid financial decision I do understand the reasoning behind it. Puerto Rican towns are dying. The commerce of most downtown areas was replaced by the malls and the big box retail stores that were built by the highways. I can’t condemn people for supporting those businesses because doing so would be extremely hypocritical, and I do agree that they have a place in our economy, but for better or worse the net result is that many of our historical towns are now little more than ghost towns.
Mayagüez has been trying to stop this trend for a while by encouraging people to spend time downtown and the ice skating rink is just another part of this strategy. Families that have fun together at the town’s plaza are families that will return to support the local businesses. That creates a sense of community. And many of the kids who grow up with fond memories of corn ice cream and smelly skates will hope to return someday, perhaps to establish their own businesses there. At a minimum the town will get some exposure in about ten years from now when those two blonde kids, who will be all grown up by then, try to fruitlessly convince their mainland friends that in a small town in the Caribbean it was normal to put on a pair of ice skates at Christmas. Hopefully for them this blog will still exist.
Nevertheless, I would love to know Ben Wyatt’s thoughts on the matter.
That’s cool Annie! Sounds like fun! Puerto Rico is a made up of a series of interesting juxtapositions. I find it so fascinating.
Adolfo, I had a great time and I’m glad the city has the ice skating and the lights. It does seem however that many times the least expensive and grass roots initiatives often have the longest lasting and most sustainable results such as in Rincón with the Art Walk on Thursdays and Farmer’s Market on Sunday. So simple and yet I think it has completely reinvigorated a deteriorating downtown social/business scene.
The downtown plazas of Puerto Rico are some of the coolest places and I truly hope they don’t become the ghost towns leftover from urban sprawl and huge box stores. Like you, I enjoy the option of a box store, but I try to support local businesses (often they are just individuals!) as much as possible.
It’s not just Puerto Rico where this is an issue either. Even in Greeley they did a lot to revive downtown by drawing people in and making it a fun, family place with live music and local business promotions and I think these things can help. Just like anything it’s a cost/benefit analysis -not sure how this experiment will fare on that scale, but I know I was a happy participant! 🙂