Butcher, and Rolando (our host) with some of his corn
2. Hop on a bus to the outskirts of the city, get dropped off a 10 minute walk from where you're really supposed to go, and trek along dirt roads until you arrive at the selected place (my friend Rolando's house)
The annex of Sanos Grande
3.Heat up the oven for the pachamanca (means: dirt oven in Quechua) with eucalyptus wood in the courtyard
Men the world over discuss at what heat to cook meat
4. Make some humitas/tamales from scratch by: shucking corn, removing all kernels by hand, manually grinding it up and making a dough with the corn flour, oil, butter, lard, sugar, cinnamon, and raisins. Wrap up the results in fresh corn husks , making sure to spill dough all over yourself and others in the process
Gabby and I were the humita queens
Even the little ones can lend a hand
5. Once the oven is piping hot, work with as many people as possible to remove the top rocks and pile up the food inside in the following order: potatoes on the hot coals; corn husks; marinated meat (including a pot of guinea pig); humitas interspersed with hot rocks; lima beans in their pod. Cover up the whole mess with cut grass, waxed paper, and finally, a plastic tarp
6. Wait for about 1 hour with your belly rumbling and your mouth watering
7. Again, with as many people as possible, remove the tarp and wax paper and (with your bare hands!) pull everything out of the oven and into its respective dishes
8. Eat! Think about how it's more food than you would eat in the course of a normal day, and enjoy every minute. It's delicious!