Hasta Pachas

Come along with me on a trip to Pachas, one of the Quechua villages that held the 5th in a series of 5 workshops on the Women of the Bible this past weekend. We'll take the Bensons' truck, pack the back full of supplies for the workshop and the following graduation day, and drive about 6 hours out into the countryside. The road will be bouncy and the other drivers will be unpredictable, but around every curve will be breathtaking views of the hills and valleys of the Andes.

Now we're traveling from up from about 6,000 to around 11,000 feet. The air is getting thinner and it's chilly all day long, unless you're standing directly in the sun. We slow down for herds of sheep and goats, as well as the occasional donkey. This one has an albino baby!

Now that we've reached Pachas, we're driving up to the church, unloading all of our stuff, and parking the truck down by one of the participants homes near the plaza. Every town in Peru has a central plaza, or town square, and this one happens to have a bell tower too.


We are staying the next few nights in these rooms on the church property. The trainers are getting together tonight to adjust their lesson plans, to account for the absence of their leader hasn't been able to make it due to her late-stage pregnancy.

I am having fun reconnecting with Kayla, my 8 year-old friend, whose mom is on the teaching team. We are playing with my camera and telling Bible stories. Her mom has done a great job training her, because when Í try and translate what Jesus says from English to Spanish, she always has a correction for me. She remembers the Bible verse and my translations aren't that great yet!

Tomorrow morning, we'll all get up as soon as the sun rises, and start the first day of the workshop. But for now, it's time to snuggle under layers of wool blankets and get some sleep.

La Loma, I love ya

I've now been to La Loma twice. Last Sunday, 3 of my Peruvian girlfriends and I took a taxi out of Huánuco 30 minutes into the countryside. Turn left up a hill, drive through a little town, and you'll find La Loma, a beautiful retreat center where you can eat a fabulous 4 course Peruvian meal, wander around the gorgeous grounds, and even spend the night. After lunch we walked up the hill to the Quechua town of Conchamarca and visited the local church. By far the highlight for me was the hour we spent listening to a local man talk about how God rescued him and keeps giving him opportunities to share that same gift with others. It felt like a piece of heaven, sitting around recounting stories of God's great love, meeting others who've experienced the same. One day those conversations won't have to end!

Pachamanca!

Somehow I managed to not have had a pachamanca meal until we got to Marias. This was quite an accomplishment, because Quechua make pachamanca every chance they get. This pachamanca was in celebration of Amador's birthday. While you can order pachamanca at some restaurants, and recreos (like outdoor community centers) will serve it to you on Sundays, the best pachamanca is made out in nature by friends and family.

First, find a big open space to cook and eat, and then dig a whole in the ground. Start a fire and heat up rocks until they are are really, really hot. Meanwhile you slaughter and marinate a pig. (I'll spare you the picture, but it was pretty impressive.)




Then you remove the rocks, and pile potatoes into the hole-->






Layer hot rocks on top of those and layer more rocks over anything else you want to add: sweet potatoes, yucca, big fat beans still in their pod, and humitas, the sweet, tamale-like corn "cake" repacked into corn husks.












Next, layers of straw, cardboard(!) and dirt are piled over the food:





















Then everybody hangs out for an hour or two while the whole thing cooks. Jan brought a Women of the Bible workbook and everyone enjoyed coloring and reading the stories. I loved playing with the kids. Some of us took a nap after all that labor.










Finally it's time to unpack the layers of rocks and food and dig in! It was all really good, and the pig had a really nice flavor, but I ate too many humitas to eat much of anything else!















I liked how someone's sheep wandered up the hill to sneak a few bites.






I was blessed for my first pachamanca to be with such a wonderful family. I am really grateful for their hospitality and the fun we had together. We had a perfect view from our little hilltop as we laughed, sang, and ate together. Check out the traditional Quechua style I've got going on!