Pachamanca

Then the dirt goes back on top of it all!

Then they cover it with plastic sacks

After it's all in the pit, they cover it with paper bags...

Mrs. Leiva (left) is in charge of the cooking. She used to live in the mountains and knows all about Pachamanca. Annette (right) makes sure everything is running smoothly. She is the administrative secretary who is basically in charge of the event.

The humitas (made from the corn we ground in the morning), the abes (green bean looking things), and the green grass stuff comes last (sorry, not sure how to spell these things. :)

There are 4 of these pits by the way. We had to feed about 300 people!

It must go into the pit too.

The pork comes next

You must put some of the hot rocks on the meat

The beef comes next

Lower the potatos in first

Dust off the rocks with special branches (not sure of the practical purpose in this)

Wet the paper bags

Get prepared to eat food cooked underground!

Adding the heat

Closing up the pits

Filling the pits with wood

We then had to mix the corn with the sugar and raisens (cinnamon and cloves were ground up with the corn)

We had to get to school from 6-7am (on Saturday) to grind the corn

The pork has been marinating all night

The beef has been marinating all night

Digging and setting up the holes
Washing the rocks

Washing the potatos on Friday

Pachamanca is one of the neatest things I have seen so far in Peru! I am going to try to outline the process for you from start to finish in a slightly abbreviated version...

LMCS does a Pachamanca (food cooked underground as they used to do and maybe still do in the mountains of Peru) once a year, and it is a HUGE deal.