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In some cases, families would regularly send a large volume of foodstuffs.One exceptionally large household based in Cajatambo with several sonsand daughters living in Lima, for example, sent once a month a hugepackage of about 50 kilograms of food made up of 6 kg. cheese, 1 kg.butter, ½ kg. manjarblanco (blancmange), 8 guinea pigs, half a lamb, 4 to 5kg. fresh beef (when available), 25 kg. potatoes, 6 to 7 kg. maize cobs, andabout 3 kg. each of wheat and maize flour. Yet even so, the average for thesample was still calculated at around 20 kg. consisting of potatoes, maize,wheat, beans, dried meat and cheese.Rodríquez Doig (1994) comments that many of these foods were highlyvaluedculturally by migrants because the foods formed part of the favouredcuisine of the Cajatambo region. However, several interviewees alsopointed to the fact that this was a way of saving on expenses since the pricesof some items imported into the region were in fact lower in Cajatambothan in Lima. 20 Although on occasions relatives from Cajatambo wouldvisit Lima households and vice versa, the study reveals that much of themovement of goods was organized in bulk. That is, in order to reduce thecosts and speed up transportation, families would cooperate in preparingpackages together and delivering them to microbuses that run regularly toand from Lima. It is normal practice in Peru for long distance bus servicesto carry parcels and assignments of goods for special delivery. The registryof goods transported to Lima from 1988 to 1989 kept by the EmpresaMunicipal de Transportes Cajatambo indicated that the monthly volumeof packages (canastas familiares) varied between 20 and 50 a month, eachweighing around 20 kg.56On the basis of these figures and an estimate of the basic food consumptionneeds for migrant families in Lima, Rodríquez Doig concludes that around50% of migrants’ subsistence requirements were met by such remittances.Although this may seem a high figure, it is worth recalling that the studywas undertaken at a critical period when Sendero was still active in thepoorer urban settlements of Lima and the nearby highlands. 21 It was also atime of deepening economic crisis when industries shed a lot of jobs, realwages dropped sharply and the percentage of households in Lima livingin chronic poverty had grown from 5 percent in 1985/1986 to 20 percentin 1990 (Ypeij, 2000, 26). 22 Hence the high level of food remittances from20For example, between 1987 and 1988 the Municipality of Cajatambo offered lower subsidizedprices for sugar and rice produced in the coastal zone and transported to the highlands.21Rodríquez Doig records that at the time of his study (in February 1990) Sendero attacked twovehicles in Cajatambo, killing five policemen and three peasants.22In August 1990, the newly-elected President Fujimori implemented a package of tough economicmeasures designed to tackle the rapidly deteriorating economy. During this period, AnnelouYpeij (2000) undertook field research on small-scale entrepreneurs (male and female) in Limato document how they responded to these worsening conditions. She concluded that, although