42 INSTITUTE OF SOCIAL ANTHROPOLOGY—PUBLICATION NO. 5 
and shaded by stands of eucalyptus, quinual, and 
guinda trees (pl. 1, a). Paths and lanes lined 
with stone walls and maguey hedges wind among 
the cercos, as the garden plots are called, and lead 
unexpectedly to small groups of houses and farm 
buildings, almost hidden by the trees. The 
barrio of La Libertad is situated in this productive, 
low-lying area, called the bajios by the towns- 
people, and here are located virtually all of the 
irrigable fields of the District. The livestock are 
driven to the bajios to water, and much of the 
town’s water supply is hauled in wooden kegs on 
burro back up the face of the steep terrace. The 
Sicainos also go to the bajios to wash their clothing 
and to bathe. 
High above, the plains of the secerrén contrast 
sharply with the lush vegetation of the bajios (pl. 
1,6). From the western hills to the very walls of 
the town stretch flat, treeless pampas sown—as 
far as the eye can see—with field upon field of 
barley and wheat. With the exception of the 
tall, gray-green cacti which line the dusty roads 
leading off across the pampas, there is nothing to 
relieve the monotony of the terrain. 
Situated on the fringes of the secarrén, as the 
pampa tracts are called, and overlooking the 
bajios, the town of Sicaya is laid out in compact 
geometric order as though to conserve every 
available square meter of arable land for agricul- 
tural purposes. The town is long and narrow, 
averaging 5 blocks wide by 15 blocks long. Seen 
from afar, it presents a somewhat dismal appear- 
ance, since there is not a single tree within the 
urban area to relieve the long line of adobe walls, 
tile roofs, and huge domed stacks of dry fodder. 
The main street passes directly through the town 
from one end to the other. At the southern 
entrance to the town, facing on a small walled 
square, is the chapel of Santa Barbara. At the 
far edge, as one leaves in the direction of Orco- 
tuna and Mito, there is a similar chapel dedi- 
cated to San Sebastiin, behind which, on a little 
rise, is the walled cemetery. The main street, 
once cobblestoned, is lined with houses, stores, 
and with the shops of hat makers, shoemakers, 
and tailors. In the center of town is the plaza, a 
large, empty square—at present undergoing 
beautification—on which are situated more houses, 
and stores, the police station, and the munici- 
palidad. The latter is a large, new, two-story 
structure with a galvanized-iron roof. Adjoin- 
ing the principal plaza at one corner is a smaller 
square which contains the main church and on 
which are located the school for boys, the school 
for girls, and the priest’s house.” <A third 
educational institution, situated on the town’s 
main street, is the recently established agricul- 
tural school, which teaches modern techniques of 
farming and animal husbandry to some 70 boys 
from several of the central Departments. Other 
public buildings of Sicaya are the post office, 
which occupies a small house on a side street, 
and the municipal mill in the bajios. 
The houses of Sicaya are, in general, of a single 
type irrespective of class, and the status of the 
owner is shown mainly by the number of rooms 
and by furnishings and minor decorative features. 
Two-story houses are in vogue among the wealthy, 
and some are faced with brick or concrete and 
have carved wooden doorways and molded-plaster 
decoration as well as cement, wooden, or brick 
floors and galvanized-iron roofs. These, however, 
are exceptional. While some dwellings are con- 
structed of puddled adobe, most are of adobe 
brick with tiled roofs and tamped earth floors. 
Few of the older houses have windows which face 
on the street, and these are almost invariably 
small, barred openings designed to ventilate the 
half-story attic. The typical Sicaya house is 
entered either directly from the street by a door 
which gives onto a vestibule off the patio, or from 
a blind passageway situated between two adjacent 
houses. On each side of the entrance vestibule 
is a room, one of which—if the house faces on the 
street—is often a store or workshop; this room 
communicates with the patio through a door in the 
rear. In the houses of the wealthy there may be 
additional rooms around the patio, including a 
formal living room and a dining room. <A corredor, 
formed by an extension of the pitched roof and 
supported by wooden pillars, shades one or more 
sides of the patio (pl. 13, b). Because of the 
scarcity of water, patios are infrequently planted 
with flowers and trees, and there are few huertas, 
or kitchen gardens. In houses of the poor, the 
kitchen—a separate room or hut situated on one 
side of the patio—also serves as dining room. 
Usually the kitchen is supplied with a built-in 
adobe stove behind which tunnels are left for the 
guinea pigs. In dwellings of wealthy Sicainos, the 
7 Most children of Sicaya are enrolled in the schools. The girls’ school, 
for which there are 4 teachers, claims 139 students. In the boys’ school, 
which has 9 teachers, some 400 pupils are enrolled. In addition there is a 
rural co-educational school in the barrio of La Libertad which has approxi- 
mately 80 students and 2 teachers. 
