I'm just back from Peru and Mexico City, where I finished the last two international training sessions for the Associated Press (whew!). And I saw something I never expected to see in Mexico City - outdoor ice skating.
Some old friends work in Mexico City as correspondents for the Los Angeles Times, so I joined them for dinner the first night there. Reed Johnson was the first person I'd ever met whose first name was spelled the same as mine (and only the second whose name sounded like mine). He and Marla (Dickerson) met at the same newspaper my wife and I did, and they married too. Since I had the next day free, Reed asked if I'd like to join him on a story he was going to do. Despite the warm temperatures throughout the year (the weather there doesn't get cold), an outdoor ice rink had been set up for the holiday season. Sure, sounded like a good way to see some of the city.
The zocalo is the main square in Mexico City, one of the largest in the world, and the center of the old historic district. Three sides of it are occupied by government and religious buildings. And now, in the center, there's a large ice rink, complete with two Zambonis (large machines that clean and smooth the ice). And people have gone nuts for the thing.
It was a Sunday afternoon, and the square was packed. Although the skating was free (and there were skates for people to use), not everyone wanted to get out on the ice. Lines extended for blocks just to get into the bleachers and watch. And apparently the biggest news about the rink was the number of injuries. Lots of fractures and broken bones. Another photographer I spoke to later in the week, who does work for the New York Times, said that one official they interviewed said, "it's a bloodbath out there." Not a lot of practice being on ice if you live in Mexico City.
Despite that, the people seemed to love the novelty of it. Who knows, perhaps this is the start of something big? Maybe in the Winter Olympics in 2010 in Vancouver, Canada, Mexico will stun the world with its first gold medal in ice hockey. It's possible. After all, the U.S. did it in 1980.
