Coupling this weird feeling inside is the fact that today was the truest example of the fact that we are still very much traveling in a time of Covid. On the whole, Peru is doing an admirable job in still giving a shit. I haven't been in any country that tkaes mask wearing more seriously than Peru - especially with a high majority of people wearing a mask on the street.
The first part of our day was a trip down the Malecon to the other side, towards Barranco. Today the fog was at its worst in the morning - definitely given up trying to predict and/or understand how this works. Barranco during the day, I have to say, is not as interesting or pretty a place as Barranco at night - partially due to a massive street construction project on one of the main thoroughfares in the neighborhood, putting new, nice looking tile. Lima has really an effection for making everything just look nice.
We had no real end in mind on our walk through Barranco, we did pass some nice street grafitti and murals, many ornate buildings - two of which have been converted into bars/lounges that we went to briefly the first night and will likely come back tonight. We had a quick drink at Red Cerveceria, that was hosting some weird bread-making or beer-making class - we couldn't discern what exactly it was and didn't want to clearly intrude.
From there we started our odyssey towards the heart of Old Lima, the area around the Plaza de Armas at the very North side of Lima - the part of Lima that aside from these historic buildings dotting its impressive main square has been largely left behind for boroughs like Barranco, Miraflores and San Isidro. It is also in this drive that you realize just how large Lima is - quietly a sprawling Metro area of 9mm people. This end is a good 10-15 minutes further than the art museum that we went to the day prior.
The Plaza de Armas is really beautiful, but for the moment is being somewhat sullied by, and this is a familiar sight, massive construction projects of upgrading and re-paving streets around it. The actual square itself, with the Catedral de Lima on one side, the Governer's Palace on another, and nice ornate buildings on the other two, is quite beautiful, really something equal to most European cities.
We first went to Sangucheria El Chinito, which is a reknowned, very simple sandwhich and meat chain that has franchises all across the city. It is fast food in speed, but even more homey and 'real' in appearance. My Chicharron sandwhich was truly lovely - not too much meat that it was hard to eat, enough to make it filling, a nice soft yam underneath and just the right amount of crisp. Were going high brow for nearly every meal on this trip, but this was a noted, and well worth it, exception.
After that we just walked around as we came right in the very odd 1-2pm window where all the main sights are closed, and the main square itself is closed to pedestrians for no apparent reason. Luckily it was already about 1:45, so we just had to meander for a bit before we were let in.
The first stop was the Catedral, which was really large, well maintained, had some interesting catacombs, and very little of the overly oppressive excess that befits its European counterparts. Now, it is nowhere near as grand, but it is nice to go to a church and not leave with the feeling that there's a lot of muted evil behind the grandeur.
The other two churches around the Plaza de Armas provided nice picture opportunities on one of their sides but aside from that exhibited one of the remaining issues of thsi covid period - Lima had taken the decision to renovate large swaths of both buildings. Again, a somewhat understandable decision but not great timing for us.
This area of Peru is really unlike any others. It is far busier, more clearly "3rd world", and very similar in my view to the old town area of Mexico City near the Zocalo (their version of the Plaza de Armas). It is still way more well maintained than similar areas in India (I hate that I always have to compare these places to India...) but it still a bit of a far cry from Miraflores and Barranco. I guess what is truly commendable about Lima is it has those other areas.
We still have a few more tourist sights to go tomorrow but at this point have seen basically all neighborhoods of the city we likely will. I'll say that Peru is likely moving up in my Favorite Cities ranking. On the one hand, I do wonder how much of that is the fact that I've now gone here a second time and had the time to just experience the city in a way that I haven't many others on the list. On the other, Lima has shown itself really well. It probably won't catch Santiago as my favorite Latin American city - Santiago is just slightly more advanced than Lima, but Lima v Mexico City will be a good debate.
Not a debate is how good Central was - again, in another post.
Before dinner though was a stroll through Barranco - only two of us went to see a few shops there for souvenirs. Both were very expensive, which goes with a general feeling that Lima if anything is more expensive than expected. It isn't expensive in a vacuum, but I felt it was more so than Mexico City - even El Chinito, the sandwhich was a good $5.
Anyway, the first shop Portico sported a bunch of Alpaca based clothing which was all outrageous. The other spot, Dedalo, also was generally expensive, but had a bunch of art, crafts, clothes, basically everything under the sun, all by local Peruvian artists. I bought a few things that totaled $50. Afterwards we walked around Barranco some more, going to Barranco Beer Company, a well reputed, if a bit too commercial, craft brewery. Even if their setup was more commercial (i.e. for mass consumption) than, say, Red Cerveceria, their beers were quite good.
After that and some R&R at the AirBNB, we were off to Central, conveniently located in Barranco, making our location of post-dinner activities pretty obvious, except for a few unforseen twists. First being that Central had multiple 'take-home' items which we had to safely transport back to the AirBNB for safekeeping. After that, we had to hop right back down to Barranco to trawl across streets giddily from Red Cerveceria (still good), Ayahuasca - a nice bar built into a big old house, and a few others. It was a lovely 'last night' in a sense, and Barranco is right up there with Condesa in Mexico City, and Barrio Bellavista in Santiago for my favorite in Latin America.
