104 



LABOR 



being worked will invariably (according to all 

 informants, observations, and cases) pay the other 

 at prevailing cash rates. The impoverished son 

 of a wealthy man, for example, frequently works 

 as a farm hand for his father as if they were not 

 related. Another example is that of a woman 

 who came to plant onions for her brother at 10 

 cents a day. However, I do not know if relations- 

 other things being equal — work for each other 

 more or less than do nonrelatives. 



Only one case of work exchange not on a cash 

 basis came to my attention. A young Indian 

 told me that he sometimes works for either of 

 two friends of his, and instead of being paid for 

 his day they work for him the following day. He 

 told me he had never heard of other people doing 

 this in Panajachel although he volunteered that 

 in neighboring Santa Catarina "everybody does 

 it both in the milpa and in house building." It 

 may be added that this informant (the poor young 

 man of the next paragraphs) also works for cash 

 for the same friends with whom he exchanges labor. 



The following account of work sequences of the 

 above Indian is illustrative of the variety of work 

 arrangements and wage differences in Panajachel. 

 Felipe in April 1940, had 7 tahlones (4 with pole 

 beans and 3 with pepinos but later planted in 

 corn) of his own; in addition his young sister had a 

 miniature tahlon which she planted and cared for. 

 He rentel Iroiii l^udino M. G. at 50 cents each 

 8 tablones (2 with pole beans, 4 with garlic, 2 with 

 onions; when these crops were harvested the rental 

 term was over), working off the $4 rental by 

 cleaning 24 cuerdas of coffee land at 10 pesos each 

 (240 pesos equal $4). He rented from Ladino 

 A. K. for $3, 4 tablones, with pepinos; when they 

 were liarvested ho did not re-rent the land. He 

 rented 3 cuerdas (0.54 acre) of hill corn from 

 Ladino J. F. A. for which ho had to grow an equal 

 amount for the owner. Finally, he had on pawn 

 another 0.54 acre of hill corn in Santa Catarina. 



Until March 15, 1940, he was an aJg^iacil in the 

 town hall. During his alternate fortnights on 

 duty he averaged about 10 cents a week carrying 

 messages, and could work in his fields about 3 hours 

 each morning. In his fortnights off duty he 

 worked for Ladinos M. G. and J. F. A. at 15 cents 

 a day; but he could not work the first Monday of 

 his free fortnight. Therefore, from the first of the 

 year to March 15 he worked only about 22 days 

 for pay. 



From March 16 through 19 he was in jail, to- 

 gether with his fellow ax-alguaciles, because a 

 pickax that had been in their charge was missing. 

 On the 20th (Wednesday of Holy Week) all he did 

 was make a load of firewood, and the rest of the 

 week — holiday, of course^he did only a little work 

 in his own fields. 



Then for 2 weeks (12 daj^s) he worked on the 

 bridge-construction job at 20 cents a day. This 

 brought him to April 6. He quit that job to work 

 in his own fields for 2 weeks, and they refused to 

 hire him again at the bridge. For the next 2 

 weeks — until May 4— he therefore worked for 

 J. F. A. at 15 cents a day, G days a week. During 

 the whole of the following week he prepared and 

 planted his milpa. 



Then he began to work again for J. F. A., culti- 

 vating his milpa. He did G tareas of this, at 15 

 cents each; but partly because of bad weather and 

 partly because he also did some of his own work, 

 the job actually took 12 days, until May 25. 

 During the next 2 weeks he cultivated liis own 

 cornfield and made tablones. But on Tuesday of 

 the first week he went to SoIolS, to sell, and on 

 Friday of the second week to San Lucas. 



Then, on Juno 10 ho began to work off" a $1 debt 

 owed to Indian L. S. He worked 20 days (to and 

 including July 2) for 8 cents a day, plus food. 

 Thus he earned $1.60, but he bought from his 

 employer one-half pound of onion seed for $1.50, 

 so when he stopped working he still owed 90 cents. 

 Until Wednesday, July 17, he did his own work. 

 That day, then, he went to sell his produce in 

 Tecpan, and returned on Friday. Each of the 

 following 2 weeks he followed the same program, 

 doing his own work but spending from Wednesday 

 to Friday on selling trips to Tecpan. He was back 

 early on Fridays, but too tired to work. 



On August 5 he began 2 weeks (12 days) of 

 work for Indian E. S. at 8 cents a day, plus food. 

 For the next 3 weeks he worked for Indian J. J.; 

 paid 12 cents (without food) to make each tablon; 

 it took him 18 days to make 20 of them. On the 

 Monday following (September 9) he began 2 weeks 

 of work for Ladino M. G. to pay for the rented 

 land. Because of bad weather, in 9 days he did 

 only 6 tareas of coffee-grove cleaning, at 16 cents 

 a tarea. But when it rained he braided his garlic, 

 and he did other chores at various times. The 

 next week he spent his required second week 

 working on the highway, then had 2 days in his 



