38 INSTITUTE OF SOCIAL ANTHROPOLOGY—PUBLICATION NO. 5 
cent of the children are enrolled in the schools. 
Of these, 7 percent of the boys and 3 percent of 
the girls are said to continue their education in 
the high schools of Huancayo. 
The problem of water is an ever-present concern 
of the townspeople, and, although some tracts of 
land along the river may be irrigated, the sup- 
ply of water is said to be insufflcient for this 
purpose. Water for the town flows down the 
middle of the side streets in open, grass-grown 
channels which, in some places, are so wide that 
they must be crossed by means of plank bridges 
or stepping stones. The town operates a small 
electric plant, the power for which is supplied by 
a gasoline motor; since the equipment is almost 
constantly in need of repair, the ight, when avail- 
able, is generally poor and the current inadequate 
for the town’s needs. 
Four busses, owned by local residents, make 
daily trips between Chupaca and Huancayo. 
While it cannot be said that these operate on 
schedule, since the hour of arrival and departure 
is always highly uncertain, the busses are invari- 
ably crowded with passengers and produce. On 
Saturdays some 20 trucks and busses transport 
people and goods to the Chupaca market, today 
the most important livestock market in the 
southern Jauja Valley. In addition to the auto- 
mobile 10ad to Huancayo, several trails connect 
Chupaca with Chongos, Sicaya, and other nearby 
towns and villages. It spite of the fact that mo- 
torized transportation has become an integral part 
of the culture of most inhabitants of the Jauja 
Valley, foot travel continues to be important and 
much produce is packed on animal back. 
The population of the District of Chupaca is 
9,328 according to figures presented in the 1940 
census (Extracto Estadistico del Pert, 1940, p. 
33). Probably less than half of the inhabitants of 
the District, however, live in the town proper, 
and local officials estimate the population of urban 
Chupaca to be about 4,000. With the exception 
of the area occupied by the plaza, and including 
the rows of buildings which surround it, the entire 
District and town are divided into 10 barrios. 
Formerly, these had Quechua names, and a few 
such as ‘Pincha’ and ‘‘Azana’’ survive; today, 
however, most have been renamed “La Libertad,” 
“La Victoria,’ “San Juan,” and the like. As we 
shall see later, there is some tendency toward oc- 
cupational specialization by barrio, and each to 
some extent celebrates its own particular fiestas. 
Each barrio is administrated by a teniente alcalde 
and an agente gobernador. The District political 
organization of the town of Chupaca is so similar 
to that described later for the neighboring town 
of Sicaya (pp. 438-44) that this matter need not 
concern us further here. Suffice it to say that in 
Chupaca and, indeed, throughout the Juaja Val- 
ley generally, the archaic Colonial-type offices of 
cacique, alguacil, and the varayoc have long since 
disappeared, as have the ayllus and the communal 
lands. There are still, however, some lands which 
pertain to the church and which are farmed to 
support the resident priest, a Mestizo from 
Arequipa. 
The remarks which have been made earlier 
regarding the nature of the population of Huancayo 
are equally applicable to Chupaca. Chupaca, like 
Sicaya and Muquiyauyo, is Mestizo in terms of 
its culture. Most of the Indians in the town, in 
addition to the peons, are shepherds from the 
punas who herd the livestock of the townspeople, 
and who do not, as a rule, live in Chupaca the 
year round. Others are traders who come down 
to sell or exchange their products, or weavers who 
stay for several months or more. For if he re- 
mains permanently in Chupaca, the Indian quickly 
loses his identity. 
Within Chupaca and its barrios there is, for all 
intents and purposes, but a single ethnic-cultural- 
linguistic population. Within this population 
there are several ill-defined, graded social levels 
based upon wealth, family connections and tradi- 
tions, occupation, education, “background,” and 
general sophistication. In terms of blood, there 
are Indians, but there is no clear-cut Indian class. 
Everyone speaks Quechua, but nearly everyone 
also speaks Spanish, well or badly. Class in 
Chupaca is a matter of emphasis and attitudes, of 
knowledge, and of good, hard cash. 
From the point of view of economic status 
within the community, a criterion of class which is 
important in the scale of values of the towns- 
people themselves, the population of Chupaca 
might be divided into the wealthy (ricos or 
acomodados), those of moderate circumstances 
(clase mediana), the poor (pobres), and the 
peones." Considered from another point of view, 
also of considerable importance to the people of 
Chupaca, one might divide the population of the 
71 In Chupaca and Sicaya, the “middle class’’ is rarely singled out for 
verbal expression; while the people are conscious of the ricos and the pobres, 
the remainder of the townspeople are usually thought of simply as vecinos, 
or neighbors. 
