Pachamanca in Pachacamac

It's like some bizarre word play, but Jen went to a place just south of Lima called Pachacamac...and while there, enjoyed the Andean cooking tradition called Pachamanca.

 Pachacamac is known as an important religious and cultural center of pre-Spaniard times, but we have yet to have a chance to explore the several ruins there. Interesting to me is that as various peoples conquered the area, they maintained the center's significance. Even the Inca, when they conquered it, allowed the Pachacamac priests to operate independently of the Inca priesthood. The Inca, though relatively small in population, seemed to be wiley administrators as well as military masters.

Pachamanca is a way of preparing large amounts of food by burying it in a hole with hot rocks. Jennifer was at a Peace Corps gathering and pachamanca meal. In one huge hole, the cooks have gotten rocks and coals nice and hot on stacked metal racks. They then transfer those racks into another hole, but interspersed with racks of meat, potatoes, sweet potatoes, little sweet tamales, etc., and plenty of herbs.

Photo one to the right shows a rack with slabs of ribs being lowered, photo two shows that they then throw in whole stalks of herbs, photo three shows a rack of chicken and, I believe, the tamales. More layers are added, including straw, until finally it is all covered in dirt and allowed to roast slowly. It is my impression that in the mountain villages it is much more of a rustic hole in the ground, they may not have the brick-lined hole and the fancy racks.

Back at the end of July, I sampled pachamanca, but didn't see the preparation. It is somewhere between stew and BBQ and it's a mystery how they get the savory juices out of the hole to your plate.

On a different note: here's a Vermillion Flycatcher sitting on our electrified perimeter wire. They pop by occasionally, more frequent are their cousins, the yellow Social Flycatchers that visit the bush outside my window as I work. Still haven't caught one on the camera.

We went Friday night to Chili's to watch Peru vs Venezuela play a World Cup Qualification match. The whole country watched it (and the replay on Saturday too, I think!). We had heard that Chili's would be full of fans because of all the TVs, and it was true. It was packed and I had to park using the Chili's/Starbucks valet (!) parking. Carter fell asleep on Jen's lap (only to be woken when Peru finally took the lead). Over our shoulders, pressed to the glass peering in at the TV were the intersection's police-man and the traffic controller. No traffic, and any self-respecting Peruvian criminal would be watching the game too, so why not?