QUIROGA: a MEXICAN MUNICIPIO — BRAND 



197 



Most of the inhabitants of Quiroga have neither 

 the opportunity nor the desire to use the first-class 

 busses. Such busses differ from the second-class 

 busses in color; are newer and in better repair; 

 have better motors and make faster time; reserve 

 seats for passengers and commonly do not carry 

 more than four or five passengers above the legal 

 limit (seated on jump seats in the center aisle) ; 

 have leather-covered and comparatively soft seats; 

 and provide more leg room. The second-class 

 busses are generally dirty and in poor repair; fre- 

 quently have engine trouble and pimctured tires; 

 contain hard wooden or scantily upholstered seats; 

 are crowded to literal capacity; and will stop any 

 place to discharge or take on passengers. The 

 typical bus has a General Motors or Ford chassis 

 and motor, with a body constructed in Mexico. 

 There are two doors for passengers at front and 

 back on the right-hand side, and a ladder at the 

 back leads up to a large luggage platform on top. 

 In front, near the driver's seat, is a small picture 

 or image of the Virgin of Guadalupe with a small 

 electric light instead of candles. Apparently the 

 Virgin has replaced Saint Anthony and Saint 

 Christopher as the patron of travelers and trans- 

 porters of goods. At each stop there is a struggle 

 between passengers descending (usually to buy a 

 bottle of pop, a tamale, or some tacos) and would-be 

 passengers hoping to find seats. However, seats 

 temporarily abandoned but marked with a hat, 

 bag, or comic book, or protected by other passen- 

 gers, normally are respected. After the last pas- 

 senger has been crammed into the bus the collector 

 slams the doors shut, mounts the rear ladder, and 

 signals the driver to proceed by banging on the 

 body of the bus. When the town has been cleared, 

 the collector worms his way into the bus, and be- 

 gins to sell tickets to the new passengers. His 

 progress is slow, since usually all 18 to 28 seats 

 are filled, and the aisle is crammed with standing 

 men and squatting women. On several occasions 

 we have counted between 40 and 50 passengers in 

 busses whose legal limits were one-half of those 

 figures. A further complication is introduced by 

 the fact that many passengers, usually those going 

 to the nearest market town, will have baskets and 

 sacks (containing everything from maize and eggs 

 to pigs and poultry) with them inside the bus. 

 Passengers who get on busses in Quiroga com- 

 monly can get seats by the time the bus reaches 



Morelia (there is relatively little movement west- 

 ward), but occasionally they must stand the en- 

 tire way into Mexico City. When going through 

 certain well-policed towns the standing passengers 

 are requested to duck down so that the bus will 

 seem to have only a legal load. Should a pas- 

 senger feel the urge of nature, all he has to do is 

 bang on the side of the bus and the driver com- 

 monly will stop. Some fares in 1945 were: first 

 class, Mexico City to Quiroga, $11.60; second class, 

 between Quiroga and Mexico City, $8.10; second- 

 class, Quiroga to Morelia, $1 ; second-class, Quiroga 

 to Zacapu, $1; and second-class, Quiroga to Patz- 

 cuaro, 50ff. The second-class schedule calls for 1 

 hour to cover the 26 miles to Morelia, but com- 

 monly it takes 75 minutes; the retm-n trip is a 

 trifle faster. 



ARRIEROS 



The presence of passenger- and freight-trans- 

 portation lines, and the ease of communication 

 over oiled roads with railroad stations at Morelia, 

 Pdtzcuaro, and Comanja, have nearly ehminated 

 all other forms of transportation excepting 

 local traffic in the municipality and northward. 

 The arrieros consider that their profession practi- 

 cally has disappeared. Apparently arrieria has 

 gone through three stages in the last one hundred 

 years. Formerly the arrieros were traveling mer- 

 chants who owned one or more mules or burros, 

 and who would purchase any salable commodity 

 (local or outside of the area) and transport it 

 into regions where they could dispose of their 

 cargo and return with other goods which could be 

 sold en route or in the Quiroga area. 



From 1886 until 1914 was the second stage or 

 period, during which the development of a railway 

 network constricted their area of endeavor. Many 

 or most of the arrieros became hired transporters 

 of goods between Quiroga and the railroad station 

 at La Cacana. Most of the outgoing cargo con- 

 sisted of maize, wheat, and beans. An indeter- 

 minate number of arrieros continued as traveling 

 merchants. Some of these would travel as far as 

 points in Guanajuato and San Luis Potosi to 

 obtain merchandise which they would sell over 

 the south and southeast of Mexico, from Colima 

 to Chiapas and Tabasco. More commonly the 

 arrieros would purchase pottery in Santa Fe and 

 Tzintzuntzan, and bateas and other local products 



