Earth Oven Lunch Experience
Take part in a traditional Pachamanca prepared in a rural community
Overview
What Is This Earth Oven Experience?
Travel from Ollantaytambo into the high Andes to visit a rural Quechua community, where agriculture, weaving, and daily life remain closely connected to long-standing traditions.
This earth oven experience combines food, culture, and time spent in the community. While your hosts prepare a traditional Pachamanca using heated stones and local ingredients, you’ll learn directly from artisans through weaving, conversation, and shared activities.
By the time the meal is uncovered and shared together, the experience becomes less about the food itself and more about the people, techniques, and traditions connected to it.
What You’ll Do
Travel to a Rural Quechua Community in the Patacancha Valley
Your trip begins in Ollantaytambo and continues with a scenic drive nearly 1,000 meters up the Patacancha Valley, passing farms, Inca terraces, mountain communities, and lesser-visited areas of the Sacred Valley along the way.
Receive a Welcome from the Women Artisans
Upon arrival in Patacancha or Huilloc, members of Awamaki’s partner artisan cooperative will welcome you to their weaving center, where the visit begins with traditional hospitality and an introduction to their community.
Learn the Full Weaving Process
Artisans will guide you through the full weaving process, including hand-spinning alpaca or sheep wool on the pushka, natural dyeing using local plants and materials, preparing the backstrap loom, and weaving traditional pallay designs that remain central to Andean weaving traditions today.
Try Weaving Yourself
You’ll have the opportunity to participate directly in the process by spinning wool and taking part in a one-on-one weaving lesson, where the artisans teach you to weave a small bracelet on the backstrap loom.
Watch the Pachamanca Be Prepared
As the weaving activities take place, community members prepare the earth oven lunch by heating stones and placing local ingredients like marinated chicken, sweet potatoes, plantains, broad beans, Andean potatoes, and native tubers among the rocks using techniques that have been practiced in the Andes for generations before covering them to cook.
Share a Traditional Earth-Oven Lunch
After the weaving lessons conclude, the Pachamanca is uncovered and shared together with your hosts as part of the experience.
Shop Directly from the Artisans
Before returning to Ollantaytambo, you’ll have the opportunity to purchase handmade textiles directly from the women who hosted the visit, followed by a final stop at the Awamaki store in Ollantaytambo.
Sample Itinerary
- Scenic drive from Ollantaytambo to a rural Quechua community in the Patacancha Valley
- Welcome at the weaving center, including traditional loose-leaf tea
- Demonstration and discussion of Andean backstrap weaving in relation to culture and history
- Demonstration of the traditional weaving process led by the artisans
- One-on-one weaving lesson
- Earth-oven Pachamanca lunch
- Opportunity to buy the artisans’ handmade textiles
- Return to Ollantaytambo
Sustainable Tours
Why This Experience Is Different
Most food experiences focus only on recipes or cooking techniques. This experience is designed around the people and traditions behind the meal itself. Led by Awamaki’s partner women artisans and shaped through long-term community relationships, these small-group visits focus on participation, conversation, and shared experience.
Awamaki’s approach to sustainable tourism helps ensure these experiences remain connected to daily life, cultural continuity, and direct economic opportunity for the communities involved.
Is This Experience Right for You?
This experience is ideal for travelers who:
How Your Visit Supports Local Communities
Your visit contributes to:
Additional Details
Includes
- Awamaki representative/guide support
- Weaving demonstration
- One-on-one weaving lesson
- Pachamanca earth-oven lunch
- Opportunity to purchase textiles directly from artisans
What To Bring
- Water
- Sunscreen
- Comfortable shoes
- Warm layer
- Rain jacket
- Optional snack
- Cash in soles for artisan purchases
Notes
- Dietary restrictions can be accommodated
- Luggage storage or transport support may be available for travelers in transit
Ready to go
Book Your Earth Oven Experience
Take part in a traditional Pachamanca and spend time with a community where food, weaving, and daily life remain closely connected.
