Long before the Inca established their Andes-spanning empire, the Wari (Huari) created one nearly as large—and far more enduring. While the Inca state lasted barely a hundred years, the Wari carried on for well over four hundred, from about A.D. 600 to 1000, as did a neighboring kingdom in Bolivia, Tiwanaku (Tiahuanaco). Together these two civilizations set the stage for later empires in the Andes.

I follow William Isbell, an archaeologist at the State University of New York in Binghamton, down a crude rope ladder into the darkness of the four-by-four-foot shaft. Since its makeshift loops are set far apart, I slide more than climb down it. Fifteen feet (five meters) from the top the shaft ends in a rubble-covered floor. I switch on my flashlight and peer at the rock wall around me. Every stone is smoothed of rough surfaces and perfectly ?tted to its neighbor. Below me Isbell calls out directions.

“You’ll see a small opening behind you. Crawl down that. Just watch your head.”

Poking my light into the dark hole, I creep down the tumbled rocks into another smaller chamber five feet beneath the first landing. Huge rock slabs form the ceiling here, and the floor is buried under dusty piles of loose rock. It is impossible to stand up straight, so like Isbell I stay in a crouched position.

“The Wari dug this tomb in the shape of a llama, then lined it with stones,” he explains. “You and I are in the llama’s head,” he adds, shining his light over the edges of the rock walls. “If you look behind me, you’ll see another room that forms its ears.”

Leaning around Isbell, I look into the chamber whose long, narrow walls are set back from this one, trying to visualize the llama-shaped tomb.

Chicha isn’t always made of corn. Quinoa is frequently mixed with ground peanuts in Bolivia. The Indian women of the Amazon Basin grind up manioc tubers for their version and sometimes add sweet potatoes.

Looking for a recipe? Check the web links that follow.