After spending a few weeks back home in Los

Angeles, I was off again, this time to South

America. My first stop was Cusco, a city in the

Peruvian highlands or Altiplano, just on the

edge of the Sacred Valley. In this former capital

of the Inca Empire, I discovered a fascinating

landscape--one in which the textures of the

marketplace and the built environment seemed

in harmony with the natural environment so

nearby. And so whether wandering its stone

paved streets, crowded and narrowed by the

buildings that lined them, or venturing off onto

the surrounding highways, dotted by ruins and

smaller towns, I always seemed to find myself

in a curiously marellous place.