Countdown in Lima

June 16, 2010 (Day 29)


Last night, we walked down Calle de las Pizzas (Pizza Street) to find a place to eat a late dinner and sure enough, solicitors barraged us with their menus until we settled on a place to eat.  Such pesky soliciting tactics were overwhelming and quite frankly obnoxious, and tarnished the potentially great atmosphere of this out-of-the-way pedestrian mall.  We had enough of these experiences over the past month so I guess we were glad they would soon come to an end.

Yes, it was the last full day of our trip, and I was set on seeing downtown Lima.

With a population of close to 8.5 million, Lima is the largest city I've visited to date, and I wasn't about to let its less-than-appealing tourism reputation get in the way of seeing its downtown.  After taxiing to the historic center of Lima, which I have since learned is yet another UNESCO World Heritage Site, we walked around the city core and took in the sights.

The World Cup was on and South Americans love their soccer so a big screen was set up in the main plaza so no one would miss a second of the action.

We concluded our visit of downtown Lima with a pleasant afternoon meal at a little restaurant just around the corner from the main plaza as we people-watched and enjoyed our last hours in South America together.