Chinchaysuyu · the coast road
My career again, now as a long road along the Pacific coast, from south to north, the sea always on your left. One huaca for each company I worked at, in chronological order, inspired by the cultures of the Peruvian coast before the Incas, with the same khipu and the same content as the mountain's tambos; then the Huanchaco market of artifacts, a ride on a totora reed boat and, at the end, Inti sinking into the Mamacocha, the mother sea.
Arriving
You arrive through an Inca stone punku at the south end of the road, from Qusqu, facing north. In the doorway you see Qusqu's plaza, and a carved sign reads “Qusqu”. By the punku, “E · Back to Qusqu” takes you back to the plaza, to its Chinchaysuyu gate. The traveler wears beach clothes: a woven straw hat, sunglasses, an open flower-print shirt over a white tee, board shorts and sandals.
The road
The packed-earth road runs along a coastal terrace, sometimes by the beach and sometimes along cliffs where the waves break and spray flies. Long stretches have a low rammed-earth wall on the landward side, like the coastal Qhapaq Ñan; on the sea side a line of stones marks the edge. You can walk down to the sand wherever the slope is gentle. Two rivers cross the coast to the sea through green valleys with fields, huarango trees and reed beds, and the road crosses them on timber bridges with totora railings. To the east the desert, with cacti and fog meadows, rises toward the snowy Andes; offshore there are rocky islets, a sea stack and the guano island.
The sea
The Pacific reaches the horizon: long waves from the south-west that, near the beach, line up with the shore and break into foam; the water runs up and down the sand with each set of waves. The water is turquoise in the shallows and deep blue further out. At sunset the sun lays a road of golden glints on the water, and at night a silver one under the moon. With sound on you hear the surf, the wind on the cliffs, the gulls and the sea lions.
The career: one huaca per company
Every company I worked at has its stop, in chronological order from south to north. On its plaza stands a khipu with one cord per stage (its knots light up as you come near) and a carved sign with the company, the monument and the years; the monument rises behind. Near the khipu the same panel opens as at the mountain's tambos: each stage with its role, dates, place, summary, knots and technologies. “E · Read” reopens it and E or Esc closes it. At night two braziers burn at every huaca.
Avances Tecnológicos · Cahuachi · Nazca
The monument: A stepped adobe pyramid like those of Cahuachi, with Nazca polychrome pottery on its steps, and on the desert, drawn in lines, the hummingbird of the Nazca plains.
Technical Leader Mobile
Architecture for Yanbal's consultant apps and the company's first Node.js microservices architecture.
Knots
- First hybrid app for Yanbal with Ionic and Angular.
- Winner of the Fincyt contest with the Cuponeo idea for small businesses.
- The company's first Node.js microservices architecture.
Technologies: Ionic, Angular, Node.js
Passport stamp: Avances Tecnológicos · Cahuachi · Nazca
Hundred · Paracas mantles
The monument: A reed-mat shade on posts by the sea, with large embroidered mantles in the colours of Paracas textiles hanging in its shade, on a low funerary platform.
Associate Consultant
Mobile consulting for Belcorp: sync, updates and modularity.
Knots
- 50% less sync time in the “Gestiona tu Negocio” app.
- First modular pattern implementation in Belcorp's apps.
Technologies: Android, iOS
Passport stamp: Hundred · Paracas mantles
Belcorp · Pachacamac
The monument: A great pyramid with a ramp facing the sea, its terraces painted red like the Temple of the Sun at Pachacamac.
Solutions Architect
From the first mobile DevOps platform to an omnichannel API Gateway on Kong.
Knots
- Omnichannel API Gateway on Kong: JWT, API keys and a Lua authorization plugin.
- First DevOps platform for mobile apps with Jenkins and Fastlane.
- Multi-brand design system with Stencil.
- Clean Architecture on Android with Kotlin and Jetpack.
Technologies: Kong, Lua, Kotlin, Jenkins, Stencil, EventBridge
Passport stamp: Belcorp · Pachacamac
Auna · Chancay compound
The monument: A rammed-earth compound with two large cuchimilcos (open-armed figures, cream with black lines) at its entrance and black-on-white jars.
Senior Engineering Manager
Six PODs: Common Components, CyberSecurity, Architecture, Platform, Design System and Digital Clinic.
Knots
- Kong Gateway for digital health at 99.9% SLA for critical patient systems.
- Six PODs led.
- Micro frontend templates with React and Webpack, and microservice templates in .NET and Node.js.
Technologies: Kong, React, Webpack, .NET, Node.js
Principal Architect
Architecture governance for the whole organization: CyberSecurity, Architecture and Platform.
Knots
- Multi-brand design system with design tokens, Style Dictionary and web components.
- Technology Radar for the whole organization.
- API Platform on AWS API Gateway and migration off IBM API Connect.
- Analytics framework with Kinesis Stream, Firehose and S3.
Technologies: C4 Model, AWS, Kinesis, Auth0, Sentry, Strapi
Solutions Architect
The first digital transformation app, serverless end to end.
Knots
- Telehealth, appointments and prescriptions on serverless microservices and API Gateway WebSocket.
- Payment Broker and Identity Broker for every digital product.
- Biometric identity validation with Python for digital signatures.
Technologies: AWS Lambda, API Gateway, DynamoDB, Python, Ionic
Passport stamp: Auna · Chancay compound
Xepelin · Caral · Great Pyramid
The monument: A stepped stone pyramid with its central stair leading down to a sunken circular plaza, like the Great Pyramid of Caral.
Engineering Manager
Core Engineering, PaaS, Onboarding and Lending at a fast-scaling fintech.
Knots
- Four teams led.
- Internal, external and public API Platform on AWS API Gateway with a documented Node.js library.
- Event-driven architecture on Kafka with an event catalog and library.
- Core microservices ThirdParty and Documents Manager.
- AI-accelerated development: Claude Code and ChatGPT in the teams' daily work.
- TypeScript toolkit: decorators, domain errors, monads, logger and shared configs.
Technologies: TypeScript, Kafka, Pulumi, AWS, EKS, GitHub Actions, Claude Code, ChatGPT
Master's in Big Data, Data Science & AI · Education · U. Complutense
Data science and artificial intelligence, alongside the work at Xepelin.
Knots
- Big Data, Data Science and Artificial Intelligence.
Technologies: Python, ML, Spark
Passport stamp: Xepelin · Caral · Great Pyramid
TopSort · Huaca de la Luna · Moche
The monument: A great adobe platform with stepped friezes painted red, yellow, white and black, like the facade of the Huaca de la Luna.
Infra Lead
Cutting the bill without cutting availability, across a multi-region, multi-cloud operation.
Knots
- 30–40% lower infrastructure cost with FinOps, Karpenter and KubeCost.
- 100% observability with Grafana, Loki, Tempo and Prometheus.
- Event-driven architecture with Kafka, SQS and EventBridge.
- GitOps with ArgoCD, Helm and Kustomize; IaC with Terraform and Pulumi.
Technologies: Kubernetes, GCP, AWS, Karpenter, ArgoCD, Terraform, Kafka, SQS, EventBridge, Grafana
Passport stamp: TopSort · Huaca de la Luna · Moche
Globant · Chan Chan
The monument: High mud walls with friezes of fish, pelicans, waves and nets in relief around a plaza, like the palaces of Chan Chan.
Tech Manager
Satellites, Integrations and Cloud & DevSecOps for the migration to the new INSIS Core.
Knots
- INSIS Core integration architecture: 50+ integrations under one shared pattern.
- Three teams and their Tech Leads: Satellites, Integrations and Cloud & DevSecOps.
- AI-automated delivery cycle with context and quality practices.
- TL Charter: the Technical Lead role versus the Tech Manager role.
Technologies: INSIS, API contracts, GitOps, Observability, AI
Passport stamp: Globant · Chan Chan
Huanchaco market · artifacts
On the terrace above the Huanchaco beach, five cane-and-mat stalls ring a plaza, one per artifact: the pieces I built more than once, at different companies. Each stall has an awning in its artifact's colour and a counter with things of the coast (fish baskets, gourds, pots, folded cloth, fruit); walk up to it and its panel opens with what it is, its technologies and where I used it. A woman keeps the middle stall and three pelicans wait by the fish stall. They say someone from the highlands left a small charm of abundance among the stalls: whoever looks calmly, by the fruit, sometimes sees a golden glint; up close, “E · Look”.
API Gateway & API Platform
One central contract for all service-to-service traffic. I built it four times, in four different contexts.
Where I used it
- Belcorp · 2016: Omnichannel Kong with a Lua plugin.
- Auna · 2021: AWS API Gateway, migrated off IBM.
- Auna · 2022: Kong at 99.9% SLA.
- Xepelin · 2022: Internal, external and public API Platform.
- Globant · 2026: API exposure governance into the cluster.
Multi-brand Design System
Components shared across brands, driven by design tokens.
Where I used it
- Belcorp · 2016: Multi-brand Stencil.
- Auna · 2021: Tokens + web components in a monorepo.
- Auna · 2022: Design System POD.
Event-driven architecture
Events as the contract between domains, with a catalog and shared libraries.
Where I used it
- Belcorp · 2016: MCBA + EDA library on EventBridge.
- Auna · 2021: Analytics on Kinesis.
- Xepelin · 2022: Kafka with an event catalog.
- TopSort · 2024: Kafka, SQS and EventBridge on the multi-region platform.
Platform engineering & DevOps
The path from commit to production: from mobile Jenkins to multi-region GitOps.
Where I used it
- Belcorp · 2016: Mobile DevOps with Jenkins.
- Auna · 2021: SonarCloud, Nexus, EKS runners.
- Xepelin · 2022: GitHub Actions and Pulumi as the standard.
- TopSort · 2024: ArgoCD GitOps, 30–40% cheaper.
- Globant · 2026: GitOps and observability gap analysis.
AI in the delivery cycle
From data analytics to AI-assisted development across every team.
Where I used it
- Auna · 2020: Biometrics with Python.
- Xepelin · 2022: Development accelerated with Claude Code and ChatGPT.
- U. Complutense · 2023: AI master's degree.
- Globant · 2026: AI-automated SDLC.
Passport stamp: Huanchaco market · artifacts
The Paso horse
A few steps past the punku, on the left of the road, on the sea side, a Peruvian Paso horse waits saddled: a bay with a black mane, tail and legs, a white star on its forehead, an arched neck and a long mane. It wears a chalán's tack: a Peruvian saddle with a sheepskin pellón with woven, fringed edges, carved wooden box stirrups (estribos de cajón) trimmed in brass, a studded breast collar and crupper, and a bridle with wool tassels. Press E next to it (“E · Ride the horse”): it is faster than walking, in the paso llano, the breed's lateral gait, and it faces where you face. E or Esc to get off. Horses are for the road: on reaching a stop's plaza (the punku, the huacas, the market, the north beach, the end) or stepping onto a platform you get off and the horse stays by the roadside; after fast travel it is back at its spot. It gives no stamp.
The totora reed boat
On the beach below the market waits a caballito de totora, the reed boat of the Huanchaco fishermen, and others dry standing against a cane rail. “E · Board the reed boat” pushes it into the water with you standing on it. Steer with WASD, arrows or the joystick (running paddles harder), with inertia; it rises and falls with the waves, and a breaking wave pushes it toward the beach. You can go about the bay, round the headland with its sea lions and reach the north beach. Near either beach, slowly, “E · Land on the beach” or Esc runs it up the sand and you step off. Reaching the other beach earns a stamp. If you walk to the other beach, the boat waits for you there.
Passport stamp: Totora reed-boat ride
People
By day the road is alive. Travelers walk it from end to end in both directions, some with a bundle on their back or a basket in hand: wherever you are, there are always people coming and going. Other walkers go to and fro between one stop and the next; everyone keeps to their right and steps out of your way. Between the last huaca, the Huanchaco market and the north beach, families stroll, the children beside their parents. At the market a woman keeps a stall. On the Huanchaco beach children run at the edge of the water, down after the backwash and back up when the wave comes in; by the reed boats wait fishermen, one mending a net, and another on the north beach; surfers walk along the sand with their boards under their arm and others wait sitting on their boards beyond the break, rising and falling with the sea; a vendor walks the sand with a cool box of ice creams and drinks on a shoulder strap, stopping now and then to call out with a raised arm. Beyond the waves, a few fishermen paddle kneeling on their reed boats. At dusk the people go home and they come back at dawn, always out of your sight. At low quality there are fewer people.
Coast wildlife
Peruvian Paso horse Equus caballus
- Where
- Saddled beside the road, on the sea side, a few steps from the punku where you arrive.
- When
- Day and night.
- What it does
- Press E next to it to ride: it is faster than walking, in the paso llano, its lateral gait. E or Esc to get off; at each stop's plaza you get off and it waits by the roadside, and after fast travel it is back at its spot.
South American sea lion Otaria flavescens
- Where
- On the rocks at the foot of the headland between the Huanchaco beach and the north beach, and swimming round them. They are best seen from the cliff top and from the totora reed boat.
- When
- Day and night.
- What it does
- A colony lying on the rocks, breathing slowly; some hold their heads up and turn them about. Three swim in circles round the rocks with their heads out of the water, rising and falling with the waves. With sound on you hear them bark when you are near.
- Stamp
- South American sea lion
Humboldt penguin Spheniscus humboldti
- Where
- On the rocks of the point by the Paracas station, in the south of the road.
- When
- Day and night.
- What it does
- A group of penguins with black backs, white fronts with the black breast band and the pink patch on the face, standing on the rocks; they turn this way and that and some sway as if waddling.
- Stamp
- Humboldt penguin
Peruvian pelican Pelecanus thagus
- Where
- Flying in file over the sea along the coast; one fishes off the Huanchaco beach; three wait by the fish stall of the market.
- When
- Day and night.
- What it does
- Two files of six glide low over the swell, rising and falling together, up the coast near the shore and back further out. The fisher circles, plunges into the sea with its wings folded, splashes, floats a while and takes off again. Those at the market wait for fish scraps. At the end of the road, the first time you arrive, a flock glides past in a V along the cliff.
- Stamp
- Peruvian pelican
Guanay cormorant Leucocarbo bougainvilliorum
- Where
- On the guano island offshore halfway along the road (the island white with guano), and in long lines flying low over the sea far from the shore.
- When
- Day and night.
- What it does
- A dense colony of black-backed, white-breasted cormorants standing on the island's top, and two long lines flying north just above the water. Seeing the island from the nearby coast is enough.
- Stamp
- Guanay cormorant
Belcher's gull Larus belcheri
- Where
- Over the Huanchaco beach in front of the market, and standing on the sand by the reed boats.
- When
- Day and night; they only call by day.
- What it does
- White gulls with black wings and a red-tipped yellow bill wheel in circles over the beach, banking into the turn; others rest on the sand. With sound on you hear their cries.
- Stamp
- Belcher's gull
Ghost crab Ocypode gaudichaudii
- Where
- On the sand near the waterline: on the Huanchaco beach, the north beach, below the market and near the Paracas station.
- When
- Day and night.
- What it does
- They wait still by their burrows. Come close and they scuttle sideways toward the water and vanish into the sand; they come back out a while later, once you have moved off. For the stamp you have to get close to one before it hides.
- Stamp
- Ghost crab
Peruvian hairless dog (viringo) Canis lupus familiaris
- Where
- Two on the Huanchaco market plaza and one on the plaza of the first huaca.
- When
- Day and night.
- What it does
- Slender dogs with bare slate-grey skin, pink blotches, upright ears and a pale tuft on the head. They trot about the plaza, stop to sniff the ground and turn their heads to you when you are near.
Donkey Equus asinus
- Where
- In the green valleys of the two rivers, inland of the road: two in the second valley and one in the first.
- When
- Day and night.
- What it does
- Grey donkeys with pale muzzles, long ears and the dark cross on the back. They graze with their heads down and amble from one patch to the next; come close and they lift their heads to look at you.
Goat Capra hircus
- Where
- On the hills inland of the road, a little before the Caral pyramid.
- When
- Day and night.
- What it does
- A small herd of white, brown and dark goats browses the desert: they walk a stretch, lower their heads to feed and move on again, keeping close together.
Cañán (desert lizard) Dicrodon guttulatum
- Where
- On the desert sand beside the road, inland, along three stretches in the south, the middle and the north.
- When
- Day and night.
- What it does
- Sandy lizards with pale spots and long tails that bask and now and then do push-ups. Come close and they dash to their burrow and vanish into the sand; they come back out once you have moved off.
Sanderling Calidris alba
- Where
- At the water's edge of both reed-boat beaches: Huanchaco and the north beach.
- When
- Day and night.
- What it does
- Small white and grey birds that follow the edge of the water: they run down the sand as the wave draws back and scurry up when it comes in, stopping to peck.
Peruvian booby Sula variegata
- Where
- Over the sea near the shore, between Pachacamac and the Chancay compound.
- When
- Day and night.
- What it does
- Birds with white heads and breasts and brown wings that wheel over the water; one after another they fold their wings and plunge into the sea with a splash, float a moment and take off again. If your system asks for reduced motion, they glide still.
The end: Inti and the Mamacocha
The road ends on a headland over the sea. There a two-tier adobe platform (each tier one step) faces the west, and on its edge a frame of two posts and a lintel holds a golden ring the sun sets through; banners and two braziers stand around it. The first time you step onto the platform, the coast celebrates: the sky turns to sunset, the ring glows, a flock of pelicans glides past in a V along the cliff, a shower of shells and yellow amancae flowers bursts out (not if your system asks for reduced motion), a short tune plays and the panel “You made it!” opens (with your traveler name if you set one), “End of the Chinchaysuyu”, with 12 years on the road, 7 huacas (companies), 5 artifacts at the market and 34 knots in production, and buttons to make your postcard, book 60 minutes, download the resume, go back to Qusqu or go back to the site. Afterwards “E · See your reward” on the platform opens it again. You are not alone at the end of the road: from the morning until dusk, people of the coast come out to the headland to watch the sun go down. By the cliff two fishermen make an offering to the Mamacocha, one standing with his arms raised to the sea and the other sitting by a cloth laid with shells, amancae flowers and a gourd; on the landward side a family looks out to sea, a woman sells chicha and ceviche from a stall under a reed-mat awning (clay jars, bowls and gourds) and two children chase each other round and round. You can walk among them. At low quality there are fewer people.
Book 60 min · Download resume · Back to Qusqu · Back to the site
Passport stamp: End of the Chinchaysuyu
The map
The paper map opens with M (or the gamepad's Y button) and shows the road from south to north, the sea, the stops and where you are. Fast travel between stops opens once you reach the Huanchaco market.
From any world, the “Travel” button at the top (the V key, or the gamepad's LT trigger) opens a small map of the Tawantinsuyu with every world: Qusqu in the centre and each road in its direction. Pick one and, once you confirm you want to leave, you travel straight there; the ones you've visited (any stamp in your passport) carry a ✓ and the world you are in shows as “You are here”.
Coast stamps
These count toward completing the Chinchaysuyu page of the passport:
- Avances Tecnológicos · Cahuachi · Nazca
- Hundred · Paracas mantles
- Belcorp · Pachacamac
- Auna · Chancay compound
- Xepelin · Caral · Great Pyramid
- TopSort · Huaca de la Luna · Moche
- Globant · Chan Chan
- Huanchaco market · artifacts
- Totora reed-boat ride
- End of the Chinchaysuyu
The coast's animals give bonus stamps.