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.
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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.
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Periodically, Peru 