Videos are now available showing a watia oven being used in Cuzco.

These earth ovens are used by people in the highlands of Peru to bake potatoes. This oven was constructed at the archaeological site, Chokepuquio, near Huacarpay in the Cusco Valley of Peru. Footage by Melissa Chatfield (Clay Technology Lab) (July 2008)

Ricardo, Lucho, Luis, and Genaro adding potatoes to the preheated earth ovens. First, they throw the potatoes through the door and onto the hot coals. Then, they open a hole in the top of the dome, collapsing some of the hot dirt clods onto the potatoes below, before adding the rest of the potatoes through the hole. Finally, they collapse the entire structure onto the layers of potatoes, break up the dirt clods and cover the mass with loose dirt. It takes 30-45 minutes to bake the potatoes. Footage by Melissa Chatfield (Clay Technology Lab) (July 2008)

The videos can be viewed in larger format here.