As soon as the fire goes out, the food, wrapped in foil and newspaper, is placed inside the ovens. Whole chickens, sweet potatoes, corn, and a veggie similar to bamboo. Yum!
Then, the young people viciously attacked the ovens with a shovel. The idea is to seal the pit so that the heat cannot escape. Now it just looks like a mound of dirt. It takes about two hours to cook, so everyone goes to the festival to check out the sights.
The wind was great. Otherwise the smoke would have been unbearable. The children took advantage of it and flew kites. I got to meet a few of them who were excited to practice their English and take a picture with an American.
This is peanut and sweet potato harvest. Here, they were drying the peanuts. Uncooked and still a little damp, they tasted like over-aged garden green peas.
Some of the guys were goofing off and burning the last of our unused wood, but it turned out to be a great reminder. The cross of Jesus is a difficult road, we have to constantly stay on guard. Sometimes, it gets a little hot. But, the cross is the only way to avoid the fire of hell.
After the two hours, we felt the tops of the mounds. If they are cold, they are perfect. Putting on heat-protective gloves, they dug the food out of the ovens.
Dinner at last! The whole process took from 9:30 am to 6:00 pm. It's a lot of work, but it is a great memory builder and time of fellowship.
Daddy, the guy who cut the chicken really appreciated my pocket knife. He admired it A LOT and said to tell you. I offered them my knife after seeing them attempting to rip apart a whole chicken with chopsticks and a 2inch pocket knife.
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