Pachamanca in Pachacutec

Today we headed out in caravan to Pachacutec, at the northern end of the Lima metropolitan area (actually we were closer to Ancon than to San Felipe), for a pachamanca hosted by Diego and his fiancee at their new place.

A pachamanca is a an Andean method of cooking food in the ground, and is also the type of meal that is cooked that way.  The specifics vary from region to region, as does the seasoning, but generally it includes a variety of meats --beef, lamb, chicken, pork, guinea pig, etc.-- potatoes and sweet potatoes.  In some places they also put in fresh fava beans, in others bananas are included.  In Ayacucho it is customary to top it all with a small pot of cheese before covering the pachamanca with earth.

Diego's delicious pachamanca included all the requisite elements --pork, lamb, chicken, potatoes, sweet potatoes, and bananas.  He and his inlaws stayed up late last night seasoning and preparing the meat, and got up early today to make the charcoal they would need to cook the food.  Their efforts were well worth it and definitely appreciated!