Parque Chamizal’s event Villa Navideña opened its doors Dec. 8, welcoming people to its ice skating rink. In contrast to Winterfest, the beautiful feeling of floating on ice is even better with champurrado and Mexican Christmas traditions.

Villa Navideña’s ice skating rink is much bigger and this is beneficial especially when comparing $8 to skate for 50 minutes in a small, crowded skating rink such as Winterfest’s. Skating at Villa Navideña is free and one can skate for an hour. Even if it feels like an hour is too short, it doesn’t take as long to get in as it does at Winterfest. Villa Navideña’s skating rink allows more people to skate per session. Besides being small, the rink at Winterfest takes longer for the ice resurfacer to smooth the ice for the next session.

Time and space aren’t the only thing people are concerned about when ice skating — there is safety too. At Villa Navideña’s ice skating rink people can move around easily and this allows one to feel safer. Even a professional figure skater is at risk of losing balance and getting hurt at Winterfest. Villa Navideña is a good ice skating rink for people to focus more on enjoying the experience than being scared of the consequences of falling or being accidentally pushed by other people in the rink.

Villa Navideña’s skating rink is a memorable experience. Ice skating simply contributes to the Christmas spirit one is always looking for when the holidays are just around the corner. 

Many visit Winterfest, but it definitely cannot compare to the wonderful Villa Navideña. The joyous face of families watching their kids skate and the excitement of people anxiously waiting to get in the rink definitely make up for a freezing night.