MOCHH: A PERUVIAN COASTAL COMMUNlTi;'— GILLIN 



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more than 10 to 20 percent of the quoted price is 

 made ( I am not speaking of prices quoted to tourists, 

 foreigners, and strangers, which are often twice their 

 accepted value). The technique of the buyer walk- 

 ing away in a huff is not generally used. It is not 

 customary for the seller to come running .ifter the 

 buyer with a new concession in an attempt to make 

 the sale. Such conduct is regarded as beneath the 

 dignity and honor of a Peruvian. 



.A. few ambulatory peddlers come to Trujillo. 

 There is a bread man who comes every morning with 

 two donkeys. Each donkey has two large wooden 

 boxes tied on either side, holding the bre.id. The 

 peddler delivers to some small shops and also sells 

 from house to house. An iceman appears occasion- 

 ally on Sundays and feast days. He pushes his two- 

 wheeled cart on foot from Trujillo. The cart con- 

 tains a chunk of ice in a large chest, some bottles of 

 colored flavoring matter in racks on top of the chest, 

 an ice-shaving apparatus consisting of a blade set 

 in a block of wood, and a couple of glass tumblers. 

 His business consists of selling shaved ice colored 

 rind flavored with liquid from the bottles, a tumblerful 

 at a time. Children gather around and pay 5 centavos 

 per tumbler for this refreshment. 



It is said that the day before Christmas and the 

 day of the fiesta of San Isidro a jcria takes place in 

 the plaza of Moche, with booths set up by local and 

 outside vendors. These ferias. or fairs, are impor- 

 tant mechanisms for exchange in many communities 

 of the Sierra and even on the coast. I visited one 

 in Monsefii in September to which people came 

 from all over the northern part of Peru. However, 

 no jciia took place in Moche during the Syi months 

 that 1 knew it. and the entire complex of jcrias seems 

 to have practically died out in the communit} . Prob- 

 ably, the good roads and ready bus transportation 

 which have oriented the people toward Trujillo, so 

 far as buying and selling is concerned, have also 

 killed the old fair and local market patterns. 

 iMocheros speak regretfully of the loss of the old 

 institutions of exchange and distribution, but say 

 that no one takes an interest, it is not worth the 

 trouble, when Trujillo is so near and so accessible. 



COST OF LIVING AND FAMILY BUDGETS 



It is very difficult to be precise about incomes and 

 cost of living in money terms without a long period 

 of intensive investigation, for the following reasons. 



(1) Mocheros do not keep written accounts and 

 do not have good memories for figures, especially 

 expenditures. (2) A good part of the subsistence 

 expenses of the Mocheros costs them nothing in 

 terms of money. Most pay out nothing in cash for 

 houses, a large part of their food. etc. (3) Barter 

 and reciprocal borrowing constitute income and out- 

 go, but often are not translated into money at all ; in 

 other instances these profits and/or losses emerge 

 in the fomi of money ultimately, but only after a 

 prolonged and half-forgotten train of intervening 

 transactions. (4) The Mocheros are close-mouthed 

 about their financial affairs. 



It is generally considered that an average of 15 

 centavos per head per day is a necessary minimum 

 daily cash expenditure for articles of diet and drink 

 not produced in the household and considered essen- 

 tial for the maintenance of life in Moche terms. This 

 presumes, of course, that other items of subsistence 

 are produced by the family. This, for a family of 

 five, is a minimum monthly cash requirement of 

 22.50 soles and for the year, 273.75 soles ($40.06). 



The richest Mochero living in the community is 

 said to be worth 50,000 soles. I have no way of 

 knowing how near the truth this may be, except that 

 lie does liave a fairly well-made town house and 

 several parcels of land. Since he and his wife are 

 childless, there is a good deal of speculation among 

 his contemporaries as to what is going to happen to 

 his fortune after his death. The poorest man in 

 town is said to be the victim of one of the common 

 family feuds over land. It is said that his sister 

 managed to get his land away from him in a legal 

 scrape. He gets a bare subsistence by carrying 

 water from the public hydrants to private houses and 

 appears on the streets a pitiful object in rags. 



It is doubtful whether the actual cash income of 

 the average family of Moche exceeds 45 soles per 

 month. 



I have collected a number of family budgets which 

 are given herewith. These are based upon the 

 memory and estimates of the families involved and 

 are no more than suggestive. I had mimeographed 

 a simple weekly scliedule of expenditures and re- 

 ceipts which had been distributed to about a dozen 

 families, but I was suddenly called away from Aloche 

 before they were completed, and I have no hope of 

 receiving them by mail in time for this publication, 

 if ever. 



