492 ANNUAL REPORT SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION, 1958 
he traveled alone, with a train of burres to carry his wares; after he 
married he was often accompanied on his journeys by his wife and 
children. His business prospered greatly when he was accompanied 
by his wife who, being a mestiza, daughter of a Venezuelan father and 
a Guajiro mother, knew the language and customs well and was thus 
an invaluable aid in all business transactions. The business increased 
in volume; the family increased in numbers; the time finally came 
when it was necessary to have a kind of permanent headquarters. 
What would be more natural than that this couple settle on the 
Guajiro side of the economic capital of the district, to work out their 
destiny in the zone of active acculturation north of Paraguaipoa, 
where the two cultures interpenetrate? Here they are educating a 
family of children that includes six sons and five daughters to feel 
at home in both cultures. The boys have traveled with their parents 
over much of the Guajira, have pleasant, outgoing personalities, and 
are Serious and cooperative; several daughters have attended school 
in Maracaibo, where the eldest has married and is the mother of five 
handsome, Spanish-speaking children. 
DIET, ALCOHOLISM, AND MEDICAL CARE 
Except for those who own and operate coconut groves, most of the 
inhabitants of La Gloria buy their foodstuffs from the store on a day- 
to-day basis with the money received from the menfolk who work 
in Maracaibo or on the ranches in the foothills of the Perijé Moun- 
tains. As acculturation proceeds in La Gloria, Guajiros tend to buy 
from the store cheap starchy foods such as cooking bananas, polished 
rice, canned oatmeal, and packaged macaroni and spaghetti. There 
is an orientation, in cooking, toward what tastes good or sweet; the 
theory of balanced meals has made little headway. As new foods 
are incorporated into the diet, there is decreased consumption of one 
of the traditional dishes, the healthful and filling thick soup, maza- 
mora, made of bitter yuca and goat’s milk; bottled soft drinks of 
many hues and weird flavors are substituted for the vitamin-rich 
chicha, a refreshing fermented native beer, made of corn, of millets, 
or of cactus fruits. The factor of prestige enters into dietary habits. 
There is more status, for instance, in eating white bread than the 
arepa de mais, with the result that more and more white bread and 
rolls are substituted for the old-fashioned corn patty, especially on 
festive occasions. This change in dietary and drinking habits has 
brought on a marked increase in tooth decay among those who live 
in La Gloria. The Guajiros living out on the Peninsula almost 
invariably have fine teeth. 
Alcoholism is rampant throughout the Peninsula among the male 
Indian population. Malnutrition and a monotonous diet may be 
among the reasons for this excessive fondness for firewater, but it 
