Lucy - Friday

After a long week of work, today was our final day. We began work at 9:00 and then journeyed to all the houses help finish. We had to put plastic on the roof of the greenhouses, but that required measuring and cutting the plastic and then making sure it was put evenly on the house. After about four hours of meticulous work, we had helped to finish five greenhouses.
After we cleaned ourselves up for lunch, we all met in the center. As we were approaching the center, we could see a sea of red. All of the women weavers met in the center to show us their work. The Awamaki director gave us a brief walk through their work. It was cool to see how many people were actually involved in the weaving and how hugely talented they are.
After our demonstration, we went down one of the weaver’s house for Pachamanca, which was a celebration for us and the work we had done. We walked into the backyard and saw a huge mound of dirt and we were soon told that the meat we were going to eat is being cooked under there. Soon all the weavers who were at the top arrived at the house, along with the Awamaki volunteers, so they began to shovel out our lunch. All of the meat was wrapped in tin foil, so they quickly pulled it out of the inferno and unwrapped and put in a bucket. After they had finished grabbing all the meat, we sat down to eat. All of the food went into the kitchen to be prepared. While we grabbed a nice shaded spot, the first plate of food emerged from the kitchen. The amount of food on the plate was unimaginable and it quickly became clear to me that there was no way I could eat an entire chicken breast and hefty serving of sheep, along with three potatoes and lima beans. The task of eating the food became even more daunting when I realized we didn’t have knives or forks. After about 20 minutes of devouring our food, Alexa and I finally finished our colossal shared portion.
While the larger part of the community gathered in the back garden, I realized that this is their version of a barbecue, but it differed in the fact that it was a community gathering and everyone helped in some way. There was an opportunity for everyone to get involved. This meal is indicative of the community. It would be easy for them to just show up to someone’s house and wait for their food to come, but in Patacancha, people want to help be a part of the process. It’s not solely about filling up your stomachs, but rather spending time together and helping one another.