The Indians use them in a stew with llama meat or mutton. In the spring quinoa leaves are added to the stew. In this treeless land the Indians make small, windowless huts of stone and adobe clay with thatched grass or reed roofs. For fuel they use tola sticks, llareta, and llama dung. The hut is cold and gloomy, and at night the people wrap themselves in a llama skin and may sleep on the earthen floor.
Colorful clothing brightens the drab landscape.
The men wear handwoven striped ponchos over shirt and pants and a knitted wool helmet, called a lluchu, which has flaps to keep their ears warm. Sometimes they set a felt hat over the helmet. The women also wear felt hats, and their full skirts are dyed in brilliant shades of orange, purple, red, and blue. Frequently, they wear a shawl for warmth and for carrying their babies on their backs. Many go barefoot.