An Outdoor Oven in Bolivia 1879

Book Excerpt From: GOOGLE BOOKS

Up the Amazon and Madeira rivers, through Bolivia and Peru
By Edward Davis Mathews
http://books.google.com/books?id=OmYBAAAAQAAJ&pg=PA1&dq=up+the+amazon+and+madeira+riv
ers&as_brr=1&ei=5L3YRuXBGJyS7QK0w6HvBQ#PPA360,M1

We had bought a small sheep for a couple of pesos on arriving at Llollia last night, so we
made ourselves a breakfast of roast mutton, which we toasted in one of the ground
fireplaces of the country, and waited the day out. These fireplaces are worthy of note. A
hole is dug in the ground about eighteen inches in depth and two feet in diameter, and
over this a framework of clay is made, with holes of different sizes, to receive the various
cooking-pots. Roasting must be done on spits passed through the holes; so the meat
comes out very much smoked, unless great care is taken to have only embers in the
bottom of the oven. For rough cooking, the affair answers its purpose well, and one
would be inclined to think that a good idea for camp ovens might be taken from it, if a
curved sheet of cast or wrought iron were used instead of the clay frame, as good clay
would in many places be difficult, perhaps impossible, to obtain, and would take too long
to manufacture. The plan of digging a hole in the ground for a camp oven is, of course,
not a new one ; but it would seem that the curved top would be much simpler and lighter
for transport than the camp ovens that are in general use.

























The Indians of Llollia and the district are of the Aymara race, and are strong and well
built generally. In their own way they are certainly industrious, for it is very unusual to
meet either a man or a woman who is not spinning, whether indoors or out of doors,
seated or walking. They are all owners of large flocks of sheep, whilst many of them also
have droves of llamas and alpacas, the last of which are said to yield large profits from
the sale of the famous alpaca wool.