Not that she advises others to give in to the same impulse. "If two people end up going to see one, it is not the end of the world, but there should never be mass tourism to a tinku," says Wheeler. In her account of the tinku rites she witnessed last summer, she notes that the very fact that the festival--a community event which predates the arrival of the Spanish-- quietly persists suggests that there are still pockets of unpackaged indigenous cultures that have been spared the dulling march of T-shirt tourism and fast-food globalization.

To those who cautiously venture into such a hidden world, Wheeler advises respectful observance. At one point, mid-melee in the main square of the village of San Pedro, while wearing traditional peasant dress, she found herself challenged to throw a punch. Rather than violate the Prime Directive of culturally aware travel, she turned tail and fled: "The thing that would appall me the most would be someone from the outside world wanting to go get in a fight."

Wheeler, 45, is the acclaimed author of When Mountains Walked, a novel set in Peru and published last February, and Not Where I Started From, a 1997 collection of short stories. Her next overseas adventure seems custom-tailored as a respite from the violence of this one: As this issue went to press, the practicing Buddhist was set to leave for Bhutan for a month of meditation.