Pachamanca is actually the name of the meal we ate, but it was literally on the side of the highway somewhere between the town of San Jeronimo and Hualhuas (respectively the silver-working and weaving villages about 30 minutes from Huancayo). The ´street stall´ had no name, nor menu, as Pachamanca was the only thing it served.
To start with, the minute we stepped out of the taxi, a woman from the street stall ran across the highway and offered us a humita (little sweet corn bread cake wrapped in a husk) and invited us to eat at her stall. We couldn´t refuse such good customer service and were very glad we didn´t. Pachamanca (in Quechuan, it means ¨earth pot¨) is a hole in the ground, where seasoned meat, potatoes, vegetables and humitas are placed, alternated with hot stones that cook everything. We were treated to hunks of seasoned lamb, three types of potato, broadbeans and humitas, for 8 soles. Accompanied by Cristal beer, it surpassed all our expectations (especially as we had just come from Hualhas, where apparently there are no restaurants. The word ´restaurant´ of course being used to signify anything that sells hot food). I can only hope to replicate this meal at home!
