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INSTITUTE OF SOCIAL ANTHROPOLOGY — PUBLICATION NO. 11 



pavement prevents the cutting of trenches by pack 

 animals proceeding in single file, and dm-ing the 

 rainy season the uneven but solid sm-face of the 

 cobblestones is preferable to the mud lanes into 

 which many of the dirt roads are converted. A 

 number of the cobblestoned streets, especially 

 those that run downhill from north to south, slope 

 in toward the middle so that a central gutter is 

 provided for the run-off of the rainy season. 

 Many of the town houses have the privies located 

 against the blind wall facing such a street so that 

 the liquids can run out (through a stone-slab 

 conduit under the sidewalk) to the gutter. The 

 sidewalks vary in location and material about as 

 do the streets. Along the oil-surfaced streets the 

 sidewalks are commonly of asphalt over crushed 

 rock with a cement guard on the street side. 

 Elsewhere, along the cobblestoned streets, the 

 sidewalks are also of cobblestones, usually raised 

 a few inches above the general street sui'face. 

 The sidewalks differ from the streets in having 

 smaller stones which are so fitted that a nearly 

 flat surface is produced. In front of the houses of 

 some of the wealthier residents the sidewalk is 

 often of fitted flat stones or of large bricks. Along 

 the dirt streets about half of the houses have side- 

 walks fronting the solares, and these sidewalks are 

 commonly composed of a number of flat stones 

 embedded on their sides so as to form a geometrical 

 pattern with the interstices fiUed with earth. 

 There are a few blocks with cement sidewalks, and 

 these are on Zaragoza, Nacional, and Benito 

 Juarez. The Government, after a delay of several 

 years, pom-ed the last of these in March of 1945. 

 The width of streets and sidewalks varies greatly, 

 but in general the greatest widths are to be found 

 on the foiu- main streets and the least are on minor 

 peripheral streets known as callejones. The streets 

 come in about four sizes: a few ranging between 

 13 and 18 meters, the majority averaging 8 meters 

 and 10 meters, and a few ranging from 5 to 6 

 meters. The associated sidewallvs vary from non- 

 existent up to about 1)2 meters in width. 



GENERAL APPEARANCE 



The general appearance of Quu'oga is quite 

 attractive, especially from July to February when 

 the vegetation is greenest, the flowers are the most 

 abundant and most colorful, and the houses and 

 landscape in general have not taken on the sere 



and dusty aspect of the dry season. If one ap- 

 proaches Quiroga by highway from the east, the 

 first view (as one rounds the curve on the down- 

 grade from Atzimbo) is of many adobe houses 

 with red-tile roofs nestled in a cove where the lake 

 plain meets the northeastern slopes and hills. To 

 the north the houses straggle up a slope to El 

 Calvario where the dun-colored Yacata de la 

 Princesa (or del Calvario) and the white walls of 

 the Federal rural school (partly obscured by the 

 pointed cypresses of the former chapel of San 

 Miguel) mark the upper lunit of town. Five con- 

 centrations of trees attract the attention. On the 

 right hand, at the northeast corner of town, is the 

 cemetery with its gloomy cypresses and statuesque 

 eucalyptuses — surroimded by a high adobe wall. 

 In the middle foreground, just to the left of the 

 highway and main street (Benito Juarez), is the 

 white tower and front of the chapel of vSan Vi- 

 cente — nearly obscured by a mixture of ash, 

 cypress, avocado, etc. In the center, just right of 

 the main intersection, are the tall ash tiees that 

 mark the Plaza Principal and which serve as back- 

 ground for the white tower on top of the Hotel 

 Central. In the distance, on the right side of the 

 angled continuation of the main street and high- 

 way (Zaragoza), appear the tops of the ashes and 

 cypresses of the Plaza de la Constituci6n. To the 

 left of center, and just east of the Calle Nacional, 

 are the scattered ashes and cypresses of the Plaza 

 de los Martires and the front yard of the parish 

 chiu-ch, this side of which looms the mass of the 

 parish church siu-mounted by its truncated bell 

 tower. Barely visible beyond the church, on the 

 other side of tlie Calle Nacional, is the clock tower 

 on top of the old hospital church of La Concep- 

 ci6n. The remaining large structure in Quiroga, 

 the municipal building, is just south of La Con- 

 cepci6n but is hidden by the mass of the parish 

 chmT.h and the attached parish house. In the 

 distance to the west can be seen the white church 

 tower in Santa Fe, about 3 miles distant. On the 

 southwest, past cultivated fields and the humped 

 outline of the Cerro Huarapo, shimmer the waters 

 of Lake Patzcuaro about 1 mile awa.v. 



The charming bosky appearance of Quiroga 

 does not derive so much from tlie trees in plazas 

 and along streets as it does from the fact that 

 practically every home (all but about a dozen) 

 has a yard or patio in which are grown a number of 

 ornamental and fruit trees and shrubs. There 



