August 29, 2012: Publimetro

Park Wherever
Peru’s free daily paper, Publimetro, shows what happens to those drivers who can’t quite figure out where they can and cannot park.

When some parkers need a helpful reminder

The story goes on to say that the authorities handed out (or more aptly, “stuck on”) 10,000 warnings in two months.

Well, from the driver’s point of view, a yellow sticky warning on the window beats a boot to the tire any day.

Act Whatever
Mosaico opens this week in Lima.

What makes this interesting in my eyes is the fact that this performance is, as the story says, “a new form of improvisation” called soundpainting.

The link above does a much better job than I could to describe what soundpainting is, but it sounds and looks fascinating.

Listen Whatever
In addition to a wide variety of theater that can be found in Lima (examples include ballet, opera, and musical theater), the citizens of Peru’s capital city also embrace diverse tastes in music.

A story in today’s paper talks about the band L’Arc en Ciel (“rainbow” in French), a Japanese rock band celebrating its 21st year.

In Spanish, rainbow is arcoiris

The story relates that the band has many fans in Peru. There is even a sidebar to the article that mentions that the band has a website where it is taking suggestions and votes for where it should stop on its next world tour.

I voted for Lima. Hey, why can’t a guy originally from the United States vote for a Japanese band with a French name to come for its Peruvian fans?

 

August 23, 2012: El Comercio

The Thousand Word Edition

Thursday’s edition of Peru’s El Comercio had two pictures in it that I wished to share.

The Height Signs Are There For a Reason
The city of Lima has two main highways. To be honest, I should remove the modifier “main” from the previous sentence, because the City of Kings really only has a pair of highways. Most of the asphalt-covered roadways in Lima are streets controlled by stoplights. Only a pair of highways (to my knowledge) are similar to the freeways and highways I know of in the United States. That duo are Paseo de la Republica and La Via de Envitamiento (which is Lima’s portion of the Pan-American Highway).

I can only imagine the traffic chaos that ensued after this happened on La Via Envitamiento…

Oopsie

A truck attempted to go under a bridge, but its load was higher than the clearance. So, load hits bridge and load falls off truck. In the left of the picture you can see the yellow of a bulldozer attempting to put the load back on the truck. Not quite sure how this story ended because it’s not as if the truck could go under the bridge again.

Maybe they let air out of the tires.

The Peru Campaign
An article in the Economia section of the paper had this picture featuring a quartet of historical indigenous Peruvian people.

No, I can’t name them all

The article was about a new campaign by Prom-Peru to advertise the country of Peru to the world as a tourist destination.

The new campaign is entitled “Empire of Hidden Treasures” and the first commercial can be found here.

(Yes, it actually starts off the phrase, “In a world…”)

Prom-Peru has another commercial in this line with the tagline of “Don’t watch the movie. Live it for real!” that seems more focused on all the creature comforts a visitor to Peru can expect.

Creativity abounds when it comes to marketing this country.

Marca Peru (the organization that brands and markets Peru) created a pair of short movies where citizens of Peru travel to Peru, Nebrasksa and Loreto, Italy (Loreto is a district of Peru) to show those locales the wonders of Peru.

 

August 22, 2012: Publimetro

Once Again, By The Numbers

Another look at a Peruvian newspaper and the numbers and figures found within. Today’s entry is Publimetro, Peru’s free daily.

1 – The number of years Publimetro has been published in Peru. This newspaper celebrated its first anniversary. The company, Metro International, that puts this paper out also distributes free dailies in Mexico, Ecuador, Chile, Brazil, Colombia, and Guatemala.

95,000 – The number of Publimetro papers distributed each day in Lima.

5,557 – The number of ATMs in Peru. This figure represents a 20% increase over the past twelve months. For comparison, in 2009 in the United States, there were an estimated 403,000 automated teller machines. I’ll allow someone with better math skills to work out those numbers out on a per capita basis. You should also wonder how many of those bills coming out of those ATMs are bogus because…

17 – The percentage of counterfeit bills in the United States that are manufactured in Peru.

8 – The ranking of Vanessa Terkes on MAXIM magazine’s list of the 9 “Hottest Mexican Women”. Apparently noone at MAXIM uses Wikipedia or any other fact-checking resource because Terkes is actually Peruvian.

 

August 20, 2012: El Comercio

The Sports Desk

The Monday editions of El Comercio contain not one, but two, sections on sports. That’s the hallmark of a sports-crazy nation.

With that in mind, here are some tidbits I learned (once I was able to translate the paper).

The Real Futbol
The Peruvian national soccer team is in the middle of attempting to qualify for the 2014 Word Cup and all is not well for the Blanquirroja (the nickname for the team, which translates to “red and white”, the team’s colors) as they are 1-and-4. There’s still a dozen more games to go, so there is still hope.

Except the people of Peru don’t think so. El Comercio ran a poll and found that 57% of the respondents thought Peru had a chance to qualify for the World Cup in Brazil. Only 37% thought their national team could do it.

Oddly enough, given the team’s win-loss record, 60% of the people approve of Sergio Markarian as coach for the team. The ire of the fans appears to be saved for Manuel Burga, the President of the Peruvian Football Federation, because a full 88% of the respondents disapproved of his management.

Punching Through
Peruvian boxer Alberto Rossel, also known as “Chiquito”, retained his WBA interim light flyweight championship. To make his victory even prouder for the red-and-white, he defended his title in Peru.

We’re Number Two
The Peruvian national volleyball team is ranked number 17 in the world and is number two in South America behing Brazil.

Back in London
For the Paralympics being held in London, Peru has one athletic participant. Best of luck to Pompilio Falconi who will be competing in the discus.

 

August 18, 2012: Peru 21

Your Go-To Bus Driver

During my Spanish lessons, I often attempt to derail the class by engaging our teacher in conversations about any and all things cultural relating to Peru. More times than not, I am unsuccessful.

One of the days where I hit the mark (and avoiding having to do the exercises in our study book) was when I asked about television shows from the United States that were popular in Peru.

Our teacher listed programs such as CSI, Two and a Half Men, The Big Bang Theory, The X-Files, and Star Trek (which, according to her, the more popular version of the program featuring the starship Enterprise is the original series…none of this NextGen stuff for Lima, I guess).

One program that she mentioned that caught me by surprise was The Simpsons. I would not have thought that the creations of Matt Groening would have much of an audience in Peru because a good deal of the humor contained in this animated series has to do with American culture and also contains a heavy dose of in-jokes.

Our teacher explained that the majority of Peruvian who enjoy the show like it for its low-brow humor (i.e., Barney’s burps, Homer in his underwear, anything that Bart does, etc.).

The Simpsons are apparently so well-known that an editorial cartoonist in El Otorongo, Peru 21’s Friday humor pull-out section, can use one of Groening’s characters and make the assumption that the audience will catch the reference.

On the previous day, August 17, independent bus and combi drivers staged a one-day strike to protest proposed reforms proposed by the city government.

Carlos Lavida used his pen to portray Springfield’s resident bus driver, Otto Mann, for his take on the work stoppage.

Matt’s creations are popular south of the Equator

Translation: I prefer a “Thursday of turkey [food]” to a “Thursday of strike”.

Then again, this is not the first time that a reference to character from a United States animated series has made it onto the pages of El Otorongo.

 

August 15, 2012: Publimetro

A Baaaaad Pun

Wednesday’s edition of the free Peruvian newspaper, Publimetro, carried a story from Scotland about a sheep race. Below is the picture from that article, but I was a bit confused when I saw the headline…

A race for the sheepish

Now, I wondered, why was the letter “e” in the word medallas lengthened out?

The answer to my question lies in the fact that animal sounds are different depending on the language you speak.

Don’t believe me…here are two websites to bolster my case (here and here).

Turns out that in Spanish, sheep (ovejas) make a sound similar to “beeee”.

So that’s why a race among sheepish contestants is a race for the meeeeedallas and it also shows that the race for baaaaad puns knows no boundaries.

 

August 16, 2012: Publimetro

Publimetro is a free newspaper in Peru that is handed out by vendors at street intersections. It’s becoming a daily ritual of mine to grab this paper while on my morning errands. It’s tough to beat the price of free and the folks handing them out are always quick with a smile and a joyful Buenos Dias.

The August 16, 2012, edition of this periodical had stories highlighting certain numbers, which were…

10: The number of players on the Peruvian national soccer team who were on the field when they beat Costa Rica 1-0 in a friendly match. Soccer teams normally play with eleven, but the Blanquirroja (the nickname for the Peruvian national team, which translates to “red and white”, the team’s colors) were a man down as Luis Ramirez earned himself a red card and a free trip off the pitch.

7.07%: The annual growth rate of the Peruvian economy based on data from June. This is the thirty-fourth consecutive month of growth.

81: The ranking of Lima in a survey by The Economist on the most livable cities in the world. Melbourne, Australia, came in at number one.

35,000: The number of independent taxis and combi drivers expected to go on strike today. I can verify that traffic today was even crazier than it normally was because without those drivers-for-hire, there were tons more cars on the road clogging up the intersections.

50,000: The projected death toll of the simulated 8.0 earthquake and tsunami that hit Lima during the national preparedness drill executed by the government of Peru.

That last one is food for thought. Excuse my while I go and make sure my emergency kit is up to date.

 

August 14, 2012: By The Numbers

A slight change to the format here as I’m looking at only two stories that contain numbers from a pair of newspapers both dated August 14, 2012.

Commission of Complaints
From Peru 21, their headline story is about how busy the Ethics Committee in the Peruvian Congress has been. After only one year, there have been 101 complaints levelled against 78 members of the legislative branch. Of that group of 78, seven have been suspended from their official duties from 30 to 120 days.

This story didn’t even take into account the suspension of Congresswoman Martha Chavez or the resignation of second vice-president Omar Chehade for allegations of corruption.

Crash Course
The front page story from Publimetro states that in the first seven months of this year, there were 347 auto accidents in Lima that had at least one fatality. Of these car crashes, ten percent were due to an intoxicated driver, forty-six percent were the fault of some error by the driver (i.e., running a red light), and twenty-six percent were due to excessive speed.

Granted that while any mortality rate greater than zero is not ideal, for a city of nine million with over 60,000 private buses (combis), over 330,000 taxis, and a growing fleet of private cars, an annual rate of 595 fatal accidents is on par with the United States. As a slightly flawed comparison, the state of New Jersey has a population close to nine million and in 2009 the Garden State had 583 auto-related fatalities.

I’m still careful every time I set out on the roads.

 

September 7, 2011: El Comercio

Today’s Headline: The Nine-Month Clock Starts
Traffic is an issue in Lima. Granted, probably every city with a traffic light gripes about its traffic situation.

There is a project afoot that will connect two major roads that run parallel to each other, Javier Prado and Carretera Central. This effort, according to the plan, will help alleviate congestion in the Santa Anita district of Lima.

The headline for this Wednesday’s edition of El Comercio reads En 9 meses se conecta la Av. Javier Prado con la Carretera Central, which translates as “In 9 months Javier Prado connects with Carretera Central”.

Let’s check back in June of 2012.

Quote From The Best
Chef Ferran Adria, who appeared in my previous post and is considered to be one of the best chefs in the world.

On the front page, there is a picture of Chef Adria with Peruvian chef Gaston Acurio, a wizard of the local cuisine and owner of several restaurants.

The comment from Chef Adria on the front page is, “El Peru es vanguardia en gastronomia.” (Peru is in the vanguard of gastronomy)

High praise, indeed.

The Official Voice
On the fifth page of the newspaper, I read an article about something-or-other but what caught my eye was a mention in the second paragraph about “the official gazette, El Peruano“.

Who knew that the country of Peru had an official governmental newspaper?

El Peruano, according to this Wikipedia article, is the oldest newspaper still in existence in Latin America. It was founded in 1825 by Simon Bolivar.

This is also the daily periodical that published all the laws passed in Peru.

Sort of like The Federal Register for the United States government but with sports scores added in.

A Jump
The fifth page of the Economics section has some good news for Peru. The 2011-2012 Global Report on Competitiveness from the World Economic Forum (WEF).

Peru jumped six slots globally when it rose from 73rd in last year’s report to 67th in the most recent tally. Overall, 142 countries were ranked by the Swiss non-profit organization. When compared to other South American countries, Peru inched up one spot and moved from 8th to 7th.

For comparison purposes, the United States ranks 5th globally. The remaining top quartet of competitive countries according to the WEF are Finland (4), Sweden (3), Singapore (2), and Switzerland (1).

Yes, Here Too
Page 18 of the Economics section had a story about Google Doodles, those drawings that replace the logo on the homepage of the search engine’s website for certain occasions.

El Comercio ran a poll asking readers for their favorite doodles. The clear favorite, with 42% of the vote was the doodle for the 65th birthday of singer, songwriter, and lead vocalist for the band Queen Freddie Mercury. This animated homage to Mr. Mercury, according to the story, took three months to create.

>>>>>>>>>>
UPDATE MAY 8, 2012
Google can make doodles specific to a country or region. Back in March here in Peru, the front page for Google had a doodle in honor of the 120th birthday of Peruvian poet Cesar Vallejo.
>>>>>>>>>>

 

April 16, 2012: Peru 21

Today’s Headline: What is “Bittersweet” in Spanish?
Gratitud y Dolor was the headline for this Monday’s edition of Peru 21. This translates to “Gratitude and Pain” and the reason for these contradictory emotions is due to the completion of Operation Libertad, a military operation to free thirty-six workers who were kidnapped by members of the terrorist organization Shining Path.

All the workers were rescued but the newspaper reports that four rescuers were killed, ten were injured, and two members of the military are unaccounted for.

>>>>>>>>>>
MAY 3, 2012 UPDATE
Of the two missing members, one was found after spending seventeen days in the jungle and the body of the other was recovered.

More gratitud y dolor.
>>>>>>>>>>

Know Your People: The Best
The centerfold interview has a chat with Ferran Adria, who is described in the opening sentence of the article as “the best chef in the world”. That’s quite a moniker to live up to.

Chef Adria attended Peru’s premier food festival, Mistura, last year. When asked how he liked the ceviche at Chez Wong, the restaurant run by chef Javier Wong, Chef Adria responded “Fantastico, ademas, Javier Wong es un personaje genial, muy intersante.” (“Fantastic, moreover, Javier Wong is a great character, very interesting.”)

If it receives the seal of approval from the best, that’s enough to make me want to go to Chez Wong now.

Pulling the Shades Down
Lima police estimate cars with tinted windows are used in seventy percent of robberies that take place in the city.

To help combat this type of crime, a member of the Peruvian Congress has introduced a law that would prohibit cars with darkened glass.

Know Your People: The Champ
Large, hearty, and big congratulations go out to Peruvian boxer Alberto Rossel on becoming the WBA Interim Light Flyweight Champion.

The Champion and his belt

Champions always look better with their belt on.

Yes, Even Here
Even Peru is not far enough for to me to escape news of the fluff variety. Thanks to the writers at Peru 21, I am now fully aware that:

a) Axl Rose was booed by the crowd when his name was announced during the induction of Guns N’ Roses into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame

b) Columbian singer Shakira mangled the words to the her national anthem at the Summit of the Americas.