My First Macy’s Parade… Had to be on a Day of Record-Low Temperature

Why would you want to see a bunch of giant balloons when it’s -6°C outside? It’s the silent struggle of the newcomer in New York who wants to see it all.

From the diaries of #LivingInNYC and #studentlife on my IG:

When you are not from the U.S., the Macy’s Thanksgiving Parade is one of those events you have probably only seen on TV or movies. As you grow up and get the chance to visit the city where it takes place, you wonder what it’s really like.

I’m sure most New Yorkers are fed up with the TV coverage and the road blocks caused by this parade, just as much as they hate going to Times Square for whatever reason other than shopping or work. For whatever reason at all.

But you’re a newcomer in New York City, and it’s not just any other parade. It’s like this bizarre, new experience you get to cross from the checklist of “things people make a big fuss about that I want to see one day.”

As it happens with any other parade, and if you like parades at all, enjoying it depends on where you are in the parade route and what time you arrive there. You’d want to get a good spot and do what social conventions mandate nowadays: to Instagram the life out of it. What the hell, right? You’ll probably do this once in your adult life.

What you don’t expect, though, is for it to be freaking below-zero temperature out there. You don’t see that on TV. You’re certainly not used to the idea (yet) that the threshold between fall and winter has almost disappeared thanks to climate change, thus it is fall, but it feels somewhat winter-ish.

On top of that, if you come from a desert-, tropical-like weather such as Lima (Peru), your brain works in funny ways: it refuses to imagine what it really means to walk down the street surrounded by 50-story buildings, with cold winds slapping your face every second, and bone-freezing -10°C.

So instead of taking my cozy, carmine-colored parka with me, I just wore a three-layer top and a jacket, gloves and a beenie. Oh, let’s not forget the leg-warmers underneath my jeans, which I consistently wear since fall started.

Well, it looks like you don’t know how to properly read the AccuWeather app that is on the very first screen of your phone, right, Karina? Because it said -6°C before you left the apartment at 8:15 a.m.

“Hey, maybe it will feel warmer once I get there, after walking for a bit. You know, you can get warmer when you walk… And there will be so many people as well. I don’t want to be carrying around any giant parka if it gets warmer. Let’s just see what happens.”

Again, the brain works in funny ways. Of course, this is an euphemism to say you’re not thinking straight.

As my two Indian friends and I were standing on 7th Avenue and 50-something street, my supposedly glove-protected hands started hurting. I stopped feeling my face. Then one of my friends said: “This is literally the coldest Thanksgiving day in like 90 years.”

Mother fucker.

Welcome to New York. Today was the second coldest Thanksgiving day in the history of this city. What do you know.

All of a sudden, at 9 something a.m., the RealFeel on AccuWeather went to -13°C. But the giant balloons, the floats, the marchers… And the eye-catching, capitalist Macy’s balloons were just arriving to where I was.

I could not quit.

To be fair, my fellow reader, this was an unexpected record-low temperature day in the history of the Macy’s Thanksgiving Parade. Gotta give me some credit for feeling like dying.

The only explanation I can come up with for this auto-inflicted pain is that my brain needs to actually go through the bone-freezing experience of New York’s crazy weather so that I won’t make the mistake of going parka-less EVER again on a day like this. Lesson learned.

We stayed for an hour, I believe. SpongeBob SquarePants and Pikachu were there too. No pics of that, though. My hands can only endure so much cold. There was this one girl, probably in her twenties, standing in front of me taking pictures with her BEAR hands the entire time I was there. I will never understand how that is physically possible in below-zero temperatures.

Is it worth going to the Macy’s Parade? A lot of people will say, nah. But haters gonna hate. I think it’s fun when you go with friends, especially when they’re in New York for the first time, because then it’s all weird and new. I don’t know if the parade has gotten better or worse with the years, but the full-size balloon characters, those managed by like 30 or more people, are really amusing. Inevitably, if you got children, they will enjoy it too.

Oh, and you better get there early. Not 6 a.m. early, but just early enough to get some good brunch after a 40-minute by-standing. The parade goes from 9 a.m. to 12 p.m., but one hour does it. Don’t be surprised if most restaurants are closed in the parade route. Most of them, like retail chain stores, open in the afternoon.

Mid-town was a good option today. We ended up having some yummy, hot burrito bowls at Blue Maiz, in Times Square. Aside from the food, which is NOT Chiplote-flavored, I recommend this place for the good, old salsa classics the managers play as background music. I could not ask for more.

The newcomer life in New York… Better enjoy it while it lasts.

P.S.: My pictures are horrible, so here are some real professional photos: