Uncovering Mexico
Jeremy Schwartz is the Mexico correspondent for Cox Newspapers. He is based in Mexico City.What's on this page?
The entry titled "Ice skating in the Zocalo?."
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Home > Uncovering Mexico > Archives > 2007 > December > 03 > Entry
Ice skating in the Zocalo?
The world’s largest ice skating rink is now located … in Mexico City? The wondrous thing is smack dab in the middle of the Zocalo, Mexico City’s premiere plaza, where it bakes under a merciless autumn sun and captivates this city as it plunges into the Christmas season.
Tens of thousands of Mexicans have made the pilgrimage to the massive rink since it opened over the weekend, many waiting hours in line to strap on a pair of skates for the first time in their lives.
More than 1,500 pairs of skates have been trucked in (you could probably count the number of Mexico City residents who own their own skates on your fingers and toes) and 600 instructors are on hand to help the beginners with their first tentative steps.
Sunday, the first day of public skating, featured spills aplenty. Here’s how the El Universal newspaper described the scene: “The fear almost immobilized some, who were barely able to make it around the rink, going step by step like babies learning how to walk.”
The rink was inaugurated Saturday night and I have never seen the Zocalo more packed, even during the mega-rallies of Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador of 2006. But despite the fascination with the rink, many Mexicans question the wisdom of building it, given the high cost (about $1.5 million). The city is not exactly swimming in cash (it’s scrambling to find enough money to build a new municipal dump), and according to one newspaper poll, 48 percent of city residents oppose it.
But Mayor Marcelo Ebrard has never been one to shy away from splashy displays of governmental largesse. To great fanfare, last summer he built a series of urban beaches (mostly tons of sand around portable pools) that were ridiculed by the city’s wealthy set, but embraced by the masses of people who can’t afford weekend jaunts to Acapulco.
The new ice rink, the mayor said earlier in the week, will make Mexico City residents “feel like we are in Paris or New York, but prettier.”
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By S. Rojas
December 6, 2007 1:58 AM | Link to this
Hi I went today wed. (actually I went sunday and Monday but i didn’t get any tickets) I arrived at 9:50 am , waited and got my ticket at 11:05 am… to skate at 12:0pm or 2pm Due to my job (I have to enter at 12 pm, and go out at 6pm) I asked for a ticket for 6:00pm I got it I arrived at 6:00pm (suposedly I had to arive 1o or 20 mins earlier ) Due to rain that as at 5pm all the people who had tickets for 6 pm entry time was pushed to 8:0pm Finally I entered the rink and I was inside for about 1 hr 25 min “skating” haha becase I’m almost a newbie and I suck I enjoyed it, it’s extremely difficult! luckyly i didn’t fall hard but that’s becasue i was almoost all the time near the borders. I’m very tired now my back hurts a lot because they told us to bent knees and back forward to avoid falling I hope to go tomorrow and all days maybe at the end of the month i ‘ll learn to skate