For two of my friends with me, their trip is continuing, with flights out this evening to Cusco, on the path down to Machu Picchu, the same jaunt me and the other two friends took so many years ago. There is a bit of nostalgia and jealousy, particularly because I really liked our time in Cusco, with very warm memories of the Loki Hostel and general merriment (part of which was watching the epic that was Game 7 of the 2016 World Series). Anyway, for me it is back to real life, but before I slip into total depression there was one last day to enjoy.
By the way, I realize both in this post and the one about yesterday, I'm already writing it a bit forlornly, and while I very much know how stupid that is - this weird slant at looking at vacations the second the halfway point is over - it is something I sadly have never really been able to control.
Funnily enough today had the best weather in the sense the everpresent fog that enveloped the city from time to time was basically absent aside from the true waterfront. The day did start with a walk to the Larcomar, which is truly just a stunning setting for a mall, worsened by the fact that of the restaurants within it sit Chilis and TGI Fridays - why America had to do this.
Prior to that though was a bit of a curveball, as when I was taking my eMed Abbott covid test, I dropped the q-tip and was told in not so polite terms by my proctor that I was screwed and the test couldn't proceed. Of course, I only brought one of these tests - as did my friend who is flying back with me. So, I had to scramble - luckily there was a testing site aside a hospital 10 minutes away, and they were a breeze to work with. Within 30 minutes of my despair, I was the proud owner of a negative covid test.
From the Larcomar, with brief spots trying to see if there was any point buying way too expensive Alpaca shawls (answer: no), we left for lunch, the last pre-planned meal with a reservation, at the bustling El Mercado, is San Isidro (a block away or so from Mayta). The place had a very similar feel to La Mar - a canopy above a wide area, with a long bar with the kitchen right behind, with a truly face-to-face view of the busiest cooking staff I've seen. The place was humming with just so many great looking dishes.
I got a tiradito of two fishes cured with a combination of leche de tigre and XO sauce - a great combination it turned out, and then a really nice, warming, seafood stew. Others in the group got on Octopus cooked on plancha dish that seemed like their specialty, and other ceviches. There's a great fact that a place like El Mercado really hammers home - Lima is a great food city for many reasons beyond just having a Maido or a Central - the regular food spots themselves are just incredible.
After lunch, we went to the last main tourist attraction of the trip, the Circuita Magica de Agua - a large, perfectly kept park with a series of fountains that go on and off in different ways each day for about six hours. It is admittedly best aroudn sunset when the fountains get colors and the like, but we didn't have that luxury so we enjoyed it in the day.
Like basically all the parks in Lima, it was stunning in its cleanliness, its unifornmity, its brilliant upkeep, and how open it seemed despite being in the heart of this massive metropolis. From the park we went to an artsy area in San Isidro to get some last minute souvenirs. I have to say that the one thing I was not able to find in Lima was a perfectly middle-tier souvenir spot. Everything either was really nice but expensive (this place, Dedalo, etc.), or a bit too tourist-trappy (everything near the Plaza de Armas, for example). In the end I'm following my path of a more quantity over quality approach which hopefully served me well.
From here we had one last round of beers as a larger group in BarBarian in Miraflores all the various beer spots we went to, it's very much a toss-up on which stay open on Sundays. This isn't the last one for me on the trip, but after we enjoyed a couple brews, two of my friends headed out for Cusco, leaving me and another to walk aroudn some more, have a few more beers, and forget about the fact that we are returning to the dreaded 'real world' quite soon.
To earn our last couple brews and the upmarket food market dinner we would set off on a 1-hour walk from BarBarian, near Parque 7 de Junio, past our hotel, down to Barranco, and for the first time walk the Malecon on that direction, and while it was tiring under what has been constant 70%+ humidity (I still don't quite understand how or why it doesn't actually, well, rain), the last part of that walk on the Malecon, with a bright orange sun setting over the Pacific, with no fog in sight, was just perfect.
The houses/apartment buildings in that area were also a sight to behold, all fancy, all probably quite expensive. Barranco a block inwards becomes the Brooklyn-ish place of nightlife and graffiti wall art and youths, but on the waterfront it is as posh as similar neighborhoods were in, say, Melbourne. Every walk has been worth it, every part of the city other than its old city center (the part surrounding the Plaza de Armas) is green, clean and just pleasant.
Barranco Beer Company was more crowded than when we came at a similar time yesterday. More surprisingly, it was all locals. I shouldn't really be so surprised - Peru has a very strong beer culture, something that seems consistent with Chile, and South America in general. Their standard/country beer - Cusquena - is rubbish, but that has given places like this, or more upstart ones like Red Cerveceria, a chance to blossom.
Dinner was at Mercado 28, which is a large upscale food market, with vendors selling interesting food, a mix of foreign influence and local cuisine. It also happened to be a block away from our AirBNB and somethign we walked by a few times in the past. The setting was really night, with a good crowd still fairly late on a Sunday night. We went for a sampling of Peruvian spiced wings, a lovely choripan sandwhich, and a amazonian chicken starter. For a few of the stalls we didn't patronize incuded multiple serving asian fare, one Mexican, one Korean, one with more of a grill theme, and a few deserts - all with a central bar in between. Mercado 28 was a great way to end the vacation, with us staying there about 90 minutes in all until it was time to retire for an early flight.
I'll have more thoughts on the trip overall in time - probably not enough for an A to Z type post, but at least a post on each Maido and Central, if not something to wrap up Lima as a whole. In the end, I'm glad we did come back here. Looking back at my trip to Peru in 2016, the Lima portion was quite rushed, and aside from Maido and general Loki tomfoolery, wasn't all that memorable, and certainly not even close to exhaustive. After this trip, I can truly say I've experienced Lima in all its glory.
