CHEKAN: a sierra TARASCAN village — BEALS 



79 



left in a single load. As yet, though, the most 

 important influence of the highway is the fre- 

 quent bus service. The regular buses, con- 

 necting with buses for Guadalajara, and going 

 directly to or from Morelia, and Mexico City, 

 pass through to and from Uruapan about once 

 an hour during the day. In addition, smaller 

 buses from Uruapan to Purepero and Nahuatzen 

 pass by several times a day. As a consequence, 

 individual vendors often go to market by bus. 

 Women take foodstuffs or herbs to Uruapan for 

 the Sunday market regularly. Others may 

 visit the market at Paracho merely as a 

 recreation. Not a few in the village have made 

 a trip or two to Mexico City. 



Modern transport has even reached into 

 Cheran itself. Three of the more well-to-do 

 men in the town have purchased a li/4-ton 

 truck, which carries freight to Uruapan or 

 Morelia at II/2 centavos a kilo. On Sundays it 

 also operates as a "wildcat" (i.e., unlicensed) 

 bus to Paracho. The fare is 25 centavos plus 

 a charge for bulky bundles; for example, 20 

 centavos for three bundles of palm leaves. 

 Although trucks are not supposed to carry 

 passengers, a satisfactory working arrange- 

 ment has been made with the traffic police. 



STOREKEEPERS 



Cheran is unique among large Tarascan towns 

 in that virtually all storekeepers are natives. 

 A few of the storekeepers are large farmers 

 whose families run a store on the side, but most 

 of them made their start as storekeepers al- 

 t'hough they may now also be farmers. As one 

 of the successful storekeepers explained, less 

 capital is required to start a store than is needed 

 to buy adequate farm lands. According to this 

 same informant, if a man has fifty pesos, he 

 can get a hundred pesos worth of goods, and if 

 he has a place to operate, he is established in 

 business. Moreover, the work is not as hard 

 as farming. In addition, as people in Cheran 

 have the same idea of living standards, busi- 

 ness volume in most stores is small, so small 

 that it is said not to have attracted the Mestizos. 

 It is asserted that only those accustomed to 

 Tarascan living standards and ways can suc- 

 ceed in making a living as a storekeeper in 

 Cheran. 



The more able storekeepers not only sell 



goods, but may make buying trips in person to 

 Purepero for cloth or to Uruapan for groceries. 

 Some storekeepers make clothing in their spare 

 time or have sewing machines for rent. In 

 addition, storekeepers may add to their income 

 by buying corn, wheat, or eggs in small quan- 

 tities. It is no uncommon thing in some stores 

 to see a small girl arrive with some wheat tied 

 up in one end of her rebozo and perhaps one 

 egg, and bargaining with the storekeeper for 

 some small purchase. It is noteworthy, though, 

 that the transaction is not on a barter basis. 

 First the sale of wheat or eggs to the store- 

 keeper is completed and the money paid over. 

 The seller then indicates what she desires to 

 purchase.-^ 



Time did not permit the making of a detailed 

 study of the functioning of Cheran stores. It 

 would be of considerable interest to do so, and 

 if the cooperation of the wholesalers in Uruapan 

 and Purepero could be secured, probably a 

 fairly accurate idea of the movement of goods 

 into the Cheran market would be possible. In 

 the discussion of price some idea of the range 

 of goods carried is given (p. 88) . 



Although not forming an important item in 

 Chen'in trade, it should be observed that women, 

 children, and occasionally elderly men, sell some 

 goods on the streets, usually at a street corner. 

 Perhaps half a dozen corners always have one 

 to three vendors selling such things as cooked 

 squash or sweetpotatoes, fruit, peanuts, and 

 other things which are purchased primarily as 

 golosinas, or between-meal snacks. Similar 

 vendors appear in some numbers at harvest 

 time, often out in the country, at which time 

 their stock also includes charanda (sugarcane 

 alcohol and water) . 



MARKETS 



An important mechanism of exchange among 

 the Tarascans is the market. In a great many 

 towns markets are held only on the occasion of 

 a religious fiesta or, if present at other times, 

 are small and relatively unimportant. Taras- 



-* An hour in the store of M. S. is typical. A small girl brought 

 1 liter of shelled maize, two ears of maize, and one egg for which 

 she received 11 centavos. Several other persons came in, bringing 

 single liters of wheat or com. One person brought 20 liters of 

 beans (this is unusual as Cheran raises less beans than it con- 

 smnes). In addition to a number of sales of less than 5 centavos. 

 the following sales at 5 centavos were made (there were none 

 larger) : one cake of soap, criolina, castor oil, lime. 



