WARI

There are three worthwhile sites to the north of Ayacucho that can be seen in one (very full) day. Wari (22 km from Ayacucho, 8 a.m.–6 p.m., $0.75) is the sprawling capital of the same-named empire. Much of the city, which sprawled over 300 hectares (740 acres), has been buried by drifting sands. Additional buildings at the periphery of the city spread over an additional 250 hectares (620 acres). The ruins are badly deteriorated and largely unexcavated, but what can be seen today includes huge complexes of walls up to 12 meters high.

The best place to start a visit is at the on-site museum, which lies on the road between Ayacucho and Quinua and contains a stone monolith, ceramics, and a few useful historical charts. A short walk away lies the ceremonial center of Monqachayoc, which has an enigmatic half-moon shape. It appears to be a calendar, because it faces exactly north and contains 18 niches, which is a strange link to Mayan calendars in the Yucatan Peninsula of present-day Mexico. Stone cylinders were found nearby and were probably once used for casting shadows onto the niches. Nearby are a few unexcavated pyramids, covered with prickly pear cactus, and a huge stone table where sacrifices were probably made. Archaeologists believe the umbrella-shaped Paty trees were used in a potion that prevented blood from coagulating during sacrifice ceremonies—a trick the Wari may have learned from the Moche in Peru’s north.

A tunnel, closed to visitors, leads underground 200 meters from the ceremonial area to a labyrinth of funerary chambers that was excavated in 1997 and leads an astonishing 19 meters below ground—the hidden level underground is apparently built in the shape of a llama.

Another interesting area, called Cheqo Wasi, lies a half kilometer further up the road and includes more funerary chambers, some of which join 1.5-ton rock slabs with bronze joints. The joints between the rocks are perfectly smooth and rival later Inca stonework. One theory holds that the Wari used these fortified chambers to store, and guard, both their own mummies and those of the cultures they conquered. Like the Incas, the Wari worshipped their ancestors’ mummies as a source of power and displayed them in public during sacred festivals, much the same way Catholic images are paraded during Ayacucho’s Easter Week festivities.