STORY AND PHOTOS BY KAREN BOSSICK

Preparing the oven started Wednesday night as Hugo Povis Espinal and Yovez Cunyas Mendoza dug five deep holes in the ground at the Sawtooth Botanical Garden with the help of youth volunteers.

Over the next couple days others joined in to ready things for the second annual Peruvian Pachamanca—a traditional earth feast.

They boiled purple corn and pineapple together for Chicha Morada, a maroon-colored drink slightly sweetened with sugar. They readied two 15-pound pigs for roasting with a marinade of Peruvian chilies and other spices. And they prepared a slurry of corn, sugar and spices, stuffing the mixture into corn husks to make cornbread-like tamales known as humitas.

On Saturday Espinal and Mendoza returned to the garden at 6 in the morning where they piled small logs and lava rocks into the earthen ovens and lit fires.

“All natural,” said Paige McNeil, the Sun Valley Community School’s Community Connections coordinator.

Soon students from the Sun Valley Community School and Wood River High School, along with some Moms and Dads, arrived to lay white potatoes and sweet potatoes, fava beans, the corn tamales and pork into the huatias, or earthen ovens. They covered the food with more hot rocks and aluminum foil before throwing a few spadefuls of earth on top. And by noon they were ready to serve up their hard work to the community.

“There’s a very specific way it’s done,” said Herbert Romero, a native Salvadoran who works to integrate the various Hispanic communities into the larger community. “For example, they have to use lava rock—other rocks would explode. Hugo stepped right up—he said his parents taught him how to do this when he was a child.”

This is the second year the Community Table/La Mesa Comunitaria has joined hands with the Peruvian community to bring the community together over a free meal celebrating the traditional style of Peruvian cooking using earth and stones.

“I think it’s a great way to integrate our culture into our way of life here in the Wood River Valley,” said Celeste Quispe Meza, co-president of the Community Table. “My aunt has gathered friends for Pachamancas. But a lot of Peruvians have forgotten about their roots, and this helps remind them. It’s a lot of work but it’s fun to work as a team and share food. Some people try to make a Pachamanca on the stove and in the oven. But this is so traditional—I’m having a Peruvian flashback.”

The feast, which dates back to the Incan Empire, paid homage to Mother Earth, whose name was Pachamanca, said Karina Espinoza, who co-owns Jhony’s Peruvian Cuisine with her husband. The ancient Incans held these feasts after the harvest to give her thanks for the crops, Espinoza added.

“It’s very cool to help our community,” said Renata De Luna. “Everything is delicious and it’s cool to teach and learn about the culture and the food.”

Both Peruvians and non-Hispanics bellied up to the food table, where they received plates full of super-soft potatoes served with a green Qapchi sauce made of cheese, cilantro and other spices. Students like Erika Calderon also piled nicely spiced pork and the corn tamales onto their plates.

Two teenage girls--Mayli Ramos Tapia and Haniela Marcelo Ramos--gave a thumbs up to the meal. So did  Sun Valley native Penelope Street.

“I have loved tamales for a long time,” said Street. “My father was a pastry chef for Sun Valley when the man who ran the Sun Valley Lodge was a Cuban. So, we used to make tamales in a pressure cooker before Hispanics started coming to the valley.”

The fun didn’t stop with the last bite. Peruvian families who had never been to the Sawtooth Botanical Garden walked its paths, reveling in the fall colors, examining the garden’s art sculptures and checking out the Prayer Wheel gifted by the Dalai Lama.

Little children tried to scoop dragonflies out of the creek that runs through the garden, while others painted rocks, played cornhole and volleyball and got their faces painted.

Paige McNeil, who interprets for parents of Hispanic students at the Sun Valley Community School, also organizes volunteer opportunities for students that range from volunteering at the Idaho Youth Ranch to serving in a soup kitchen to the periodic Community Tables.

“This is about welcoming our Peruvians,” she said. “It’s fostering community over a meal, bringing people together from different communities. We have a big population from Peru so it is great to see people sitting together at the table, creating conversation.”

Rocio Paucar who came from Peru’s mountain town of Huancayo, beamed as Renata DeLuna loaded her plate.

“This is amazing and I love it,” she said. “I’m from Peru and this reminds me of my country. And it’s nice to share the culture with all the people.”