MOCHE: A PERUVIAN COASTAL COMMUMTi'— GILLIN 



81 



MODERN MEAXS OF CONTACT WITH THE 

 OUTSIDE WORLD 



The railroad, connecting Salaverry with Trujillo 

 and points beyond, a narrow gage line of 0.914 m., 

 passes along the east edge of town, as shown in 

 map 1. At the present time it runs no passenger 

 cars or trains and therefore exercises no appreciable 

 influence in the life of the Mocheros. Until a few 

 years ago, however, it was a principal means of 

 mechanical transportation for trips outside of Moche. 

 A station and siding stood beside the line just op- 

 posite from the placitcla where the windmill now 

 stands, and a branch line turned off here, passed 

 westward on Calle Alfonso Ugarte to Calle Inclan, 

 where it turned southward and continued to Las 

 Delicias on the shore. This branch line was torn 

 up and abandoned less than 10 years ago. Discarded 

 rails are to be found as uprights in a few houses. 

 The autobuses and the shortages of wartime have 

 conspired to suppress the passenger business of the 

 railroad. 



The town of Moche lies in a Y formed by two 

 first-class highways, each two lanes in width and 

 smoothly asphalted. Final work on the surfacing 

 was completed only 3 or 4 years ago. To the north 

 of town the Pan-American Highway (Carretera 

 Panamericana) passes southeastward on its way to 

 Lima. Along the west side of town runs the high- 

 way from Trujillo to the port of Salaverry. Only 

 the latter is important for Moche. The busses run- 

 ning between the port and the city turn off the high- 

 way and proceed to the Moche plaza, sounding their 

 horns loudly as they enter the town, so that pas- 

 sengers may come running from their houses to the 

 plaza. The trip between Moche and Trujillo re- 

 quires 20 to 25 minutes and one-way fare is 20 

 centavos, having been raised from 15 centavos in 

 1944. According to the posted schedule, Moche is 

 served by 48 trips per day in each direction, an aver- 

 age of one every half-hour, with a couple extra dur- 

 ing hours of heavy traffic. In 1944 the first bus 

 was supposed to leave Moche at 5 : 05 p. m. for Tru- 

 jillo, and the last bus was supposed to leave at 12 

 midnight, arriving in Trujillo about 12:20 a. m. 

 The last bus out from Trujillo to Moche left about 

 1 1 : 40 p. m. Although there is some complaint about 

 the high cost of the fare, the majority of Mocheros 

 use the bus, because of its convenience and speed. 

 It is prepared to earn,- the bundles of agricultural 

 produce (except alfalfa and other excessively bulky 

 bundles) and the cans of milk on its roof. The 



busses also deliver the papers and mail early in the 

 morning. 



The surfacing of the highways also brings some 

 trucks to Moche. A delivery truck from the Panifi- 

 cadora, a large Trujillo baker}-, comes every day. 

 Mocheros. both men and women, catch rides on 

 these vehicles and also on trucks passing along the 

 highways, as a further means of mobility. 



There is a telephone "central" in the town of 

 Moche on the Calle Espinar. It .belongs to the Com- 

 pania Xacional de Telefonos, but its facilities are 

 little used by the general public because it has only 

 one branch line, that to the police station. The in- 

 strument in the "central" itself is used, however, 

 in emergencies, and one may call a person in Moche 

 from Trujillo by long distance with some hope that 

 a messenger will be sent out to bring him to the 

 central office. A post office is maintained in the town, 

 also on the Calle Espinar, which also theoretically 

 receives and accepts telegrams. There is no house 

 delivery of mail. The postmistress calculates that 

 an average of about 1 5 pieces of incoming mail are 

 liaiidled daily. 



According to my count, there are eight radio re- 

 ceiving sets, all in the pueblo ; five of them belong 

 to forastcros and three belong to Mocheros. None 

 of the Government agencies has a receiver with 

 loudspeaker for the benefit of the public, as is the 

 case in many Peruvian towns. One of the radios 

 is in a salon (drink parlor) and thus available to 

 the public, as it were, and the others, in private 

 homes, can be listened to by friends. There is not 

 much interest in radio, however, and the extant sets 

 exert practically no influence on opinion or custom. 

 All are batter)- sets, owing to the fact that Moche 

 has no electric power, so they are turned on only 

 for a few minutes or an hour a day, and several of 

 them are usually out of order at any given time 

 for want of batteries. No gasoline or oil motors 

 for the generation of electricity are in operation in 

 Moche, so far as I know. 



The lack of electricity, together with the general 

 orientations of the culture, probably contributes to 

 a relatively low interest in reading, or may be ex- 

 pected to retard its growth, although the dim, flicker- 

 ing light available in many a small Peruvian town 

 which does have electricity is as discouraging to 

 reading as the most primitive candle or oil lamp. 

 Newspapers have a surprisingly large circulation 

 for so rural a community, but they are read in day- 

 light by those who can read. The Lima papers. 



