HIGHLAND COMMUNITIES OF CENTRAL PERU—TSCHOPIK Sill 
their wives; those who journey alone and with less 
pomp and circumstance are called simply “travel- 
ers,” or “viajeros.”” Manufactured articles, cloth, 
clothing, hats, shoes, bread, coca, peppers, and the 
like are purchased, or received on credit, from 
merchants in Ayacucho. Informants state that 
the average capital required for a trip is from 
100 to 500 soles. These articles are then trans- 
ported to Coracora, Puquio, Cangallo, and all the 
surrounding uplands where they are traded for 
cattle, sheep, mules and burros, wool, sheep and 
goat pelts, and cheeses. Each arriero deals with 
a particular Highland stock-breeder who is known 
to him and to whom from time to time he advances 
money; for the arrieros perform the functions of 
merchant, banker, and news agency in these 
remote and isolated regions. Upon returning to 
Ayacucho, the cattle and sheep are sold in the 
Sunday fairs of San Juan Bautista, a barrio of 
Ayacucho, to local merchants o1 less frequently to 
dealers from Pisco, Castrovirreina, and Lima, while 
the other Highland articles are sold or bartered 
in the Ayacucho market. 
In former times the arrieros of Carmen Alto 
made frequent trading trips via Huaitaré to Ica 
and Nasca on the Coast to trade Highland products 
for wines and aguardientes. Today truck trans- 
portation has largely taken over this traffic while 
trucking companies which travel the roads to the 
Montana have tended to replace the activities of 
the arriero throughout the jungle region. 
Although some 10 men from Carmen Alto are 
accustomed to go to work on the guano islands off 
the coast of Pisco between February and Septem- 
ber, the inhabitants of the village do not seek 
seasonal employment in mines or on the Coastal 
plantations. 
Important local industries in Carmen Alto are 
the manufacture of felt hats for the Highland 
trade, and weaving. Of the articles woven, the 
most notable are the famous Ayacucho blankets 
which are in demand as far away as Huancayo 
and Lima, where they figure importantly in the 
tourist trade. 
Because it is situated so near to Ayacucho, a 
religious center known widely for the pageantry 
and color of its feast-day processions, the fiestas 
of Carmen Alto tend to be eclipsed by those of the 
Department capital.“ The most important is 
88 For descriptions of the principal fiestas of Ayacucho, see Bustamante, 
1943, pp. 67-S9. 
that of the Virgen del Carmen, held on July 16, 
while Concepcién is celebrated on December 8.” 
QUINOA 
The village of Quinoa is located in rolling, semi- 
arid country, some 7'5 miles to the northeast of 
Ayacucho. Surrounded by cultivated fields en- 
closed within files of eucalyptus, the peripheries 
of the community merge imperceptibly with the 
scattered farms which dot the countryside (pl. 1, 
c). The streets on the edges of the village are 
narrow, rocky lanes which wind between adobe 
walls and hedge rows of maguey. As one nears 
the center, the plan of the village becomes more 
coherent and orderly. Here streets enter the 
corners of the plaza more or less at right angles 
(pl. 9, d). The plaza is a large, open, grass- 
covered square in which recently planted trees 
grow within circular walls of pivea masonry. The 
streets in the center of town are cobblestoned and 
have narrow open channels which carry the water, 
supplied by two springs in the nearby hills, through 
the village and to the fields for the purpose of 
irrigation. In keeping with the general rule in 
the Highlands of Central Peru, uninterrupted 
lines of houses and walls flank the streets. Over 
the doors of some houses, and extending into the 
street, are poles to which smail bunches of red 
flowers have been tied, announcing that the house 
is a picanteria where peppery native dishes may 
be had (pl. 9, d); other poles adorned with bunches 
of corn husks indicate that chicha is for sale. 
Access may be had to the interior patios and cor- 
rals of the Mestizo homes by way of covered pas- 
sageways situated between rooms which give on 
the street or, in some cases, by way of narrow 
alleys between adjoining houses. In the less pre- 
tentious homes of the Indians, walled garden plots 
of potatoes or quinoa, in addition to corrals for 
the livestock, adjoin the kitchen and _ living 
quarters. 
As in the case of Santa Barbara, the homes of 
the Mestizos are differentiated from those of the 
Indian residents chiefly by their greater size and 
complexity—some, especially those which flank 
the plaza, are two-storied; by having more 
rooms; and by the nature of their furnishings. In 
regard to construction, however, the houses of 
both classes are basically alike. Most are built 
8 The fiesta of the Virgen del Carmen of Carmen Alto is deseribed in 
detail in Bustamante, 1943, pp. 46-50. 
