Nota Bene

After continuing our pre-Machu-Picchu acclimatization – first in Cusco then Pisac – next on our LatAm-2025 trip was… a bit more acclimatization – heading down the valley of the Urubamba River…

// By the way, the waters of this river feed into the basin of the great (or could it be even the greatest river on our planet) Amazon. Who knew?!… //

Today was to be one of those people/street-life/local customs/general-daily-life-watching days – like we recently had on our China-2024 trip in Songzhou. Just observing how a day passes here for the locals away from the tourist magnets…

And that includes observing what they eat – and that includes… black corn!

// Actually, it’s purple – maíz morado. Heard of it before? I hadn’t. And I didn’t get to try it, which I regret. //

We were told that Peru grows hundreds of different types of both corn and potatoes. And after walking around the local market, I can confirm this to be true. The path to the market goes through Pisac, whose Inca ruins we’d checked out the day before. But on this day we checked out not the ruins but the modern-day, lived-in part of the ancient city. So, let’s take a walk down its alleys and squares! Let’s see how the average Peruvian lives…

Read on…

Our LatAm-2025 trip continues!…

So far, we’ve checked out the mysteriously intriguing Nazca Lines, strolled around both Lima and Cusco, and fed llamas and alpacas at the Manos de la Comunidad farm.

As to the coming few days, our main goal was to hike the Inca Trail and reach Machu Picchu, but first, we’d spend another day acclimatizing – this time not in Cusco but near it, visiting a couple more ancient Inca towns: Pisac and Ollantaytambo. We’d take a bus there, then afterward we’d be on-foot all the way up to Machu Picchu. Something like this:

So, first – the ruins of the ancient Inca fortress city of Pisac. The scale isn’t the most impressive, but we did need to acclimatize – so better here than kicking our heels in Cusco for another day. All righty; let’s go!…

Read on…

Farewell Cusco, and our journey through Latin America continued to drift away from the former capital of the Inca Empire toward the other ancient cities of this civilization, its trails, and ultimately – to the famous mountaintop structures of Machu Picchu. Along the way, we stopped off at interesting places to observe, snap, and learn something new. First up: the Manos de la Comunidad farm (literally, the “Hands of the Community”), here on the map. Here, in enclosures, live llamas, alpacas, and other animals. At first glance, these distant relatives of the camel charm with their cuteness and sociability:

But what lovely little faces! They’re somewhat dopey and dozy – but still very cute…

Time for walkies!…

Straight away – a couple of surprises…

It turned out that besides the mentioned llamas and alpacas, there are also vicuñas here in South America, about which I previously knew nothing. They’re quite similar to llamas and alpacas – only noticeably smaller in size. Also, within each species, there are many subspecies that differ significantly from each other. I didn’t know! It’s not clear how useful this information will be for me or you, but still…

Here they are – all a bit different ->

And there are also guanacos! However, they seem to be like llamas. They all vary in size, color, and fur. Some are more smooth…

…Others are positively shaggy-dreaddy! They smell, of course, but they’re still cute :)

So, how do they… taste?! Their meat has a special, specific flavor – you won’t confuse it with anything else. But to be honest, it didn’t impress me. It was served in small restaurants, and I tried different dishes – but wasn’t keen on any.

Upon entering, you’re immediately invited to feed the animals and take photos:

We duly oblige…

Behind this mighty warrior and metal mesh, some particularly rare and expensive llamas-alpacas graze, protected from tourists:

And next, in a large aviary, pair of condors – what a big bird! ->

The male actively displayed his prowess and superiority over the spectators, turning in different directions:

A scale model of Machu Picchu ->

Folk art:

And since the llamas-alpacas are all about wool, local craftspeople weave souvenirs:

For a small amount of money (~5-10 soles), you can take a photo with the weavers. Why not? ->

And this is just… food! Guinea pigs (here they are called cuy) make rather popular dishes here! The meat is soft and pleasant to taste. It felt a bit weird as we were eating one of these very guinea pigs… but (once again!), why not?

In the souvenir shop, the tapestries amazed me – not bad! If I’d needed to hang something on a wall back home, I’d have chosen something here ->

More cuteness ->

And that was that; a Peruvian alpaca-lama farm – done. Time to be moving on…

The best photos from our journey through Latin America are here.

So, the Nazca Lines have been thoroughly examined and documented and snapped. All bueno.

And though our LatAm-trip-2025 had only just begun, my brain had already received a powerful dose of contemplative radiation and awe-inspiring impressions – leaving it in a state of immense rapture. It was hard to believe that so much more brain-busting and surprising experiences lay ahead. Where will I store it all?…

After returning to Lima airport after our flight to and back from Nazca, we immediately boarded another, larger plane – a scheduled flight – and headed to Cusco. From here, we’d planned to embark on a four-day trek up the Inca Trail to Machu Picchu. We spent a day-and-a-half in the city’s outskirts – partly to acclimatize to the high altitudes: we’d be climbing up to 4000 meters above sea-level on the upcoming passes, and later as high as 5000 meters. Without proper acclimatization, this isn’t just very difficult but also dangerous, but the mountainous areas around Cusco are perfect for this very purpose (acclimatization). Plus, there’s plenty to see here; no wonder the city’s listed as a UNESCO World Heritage Site.

So, here we are in Cusco, capital of the Inca Empire:

Read on…

The UMMC Museum Complex is an absolutely unique and astonishing collection of all kinds of machinery. This includes cars, airplanes, railway transport, and much, much more – both civilian and military, and from antique to modern-day. There’s even a submarine! An incredible place – and I’ve said that many times but never get tired of repeating it. The museum has over 10,000 (!) exhibits, so you won’t be able to see everything in just one visit, so don’t even hope for that. For a thorough and comprehensive tour of the exhibition, set aside two or even three days.

I’d already been here three times, walked around a lot, observed, was amazed – and then shared my photos and impressions. This time, I managed to carve out a couple of hours for a visit (which, of course, is categorically insufficient) – just to rush through and see the latest additions to the collection. Yes, yes, despite the enormous number of exhibits there are already, the museum continues to actively expand with new ones.

First, we head to the “Wings of Victory” exhibition hall, where aircraft and other aviation-related exhibits are mainly displayed. Wow! Another Douglas DC-3 in the collection ->

Aha, they were built in the USSR under license until as late as 1952.

So what else is new in the halls?

Read on…

Peru. So, what’s generally known about this South American country by the average general-knowledge pub-quiz buff? I’d say: the mysteriously extinct Inca civilization/empire, the ancient cities of Cusco and Machu Picchu, the high-altitude Lake Titicaca, and, of course, the mysterious Nazca Lines (also known as the geoglyphs of the Nazca Plateau).

As to the latter, seeing these drawings in the flesh has been a childhood dream of mine ever since I enthusiastically studied the geography of this world through books filled with maps, pictures, and photos of different regions of the planet. Naturally, when planning my trip to Peru, visiting the plateau – flying over it in some kind of aircraft – was one of my top priorities. And now, decades half-a-century (!) later, I’ve finally made it happen! The lines, geometric figures, and depictions of funny-looking folks and animals on the Nazca Plateau – checked off the list!…

Read on…

What is an Auto-Woodpecker, and what does it have to do with AI?…

We live in the age of AI hype. Artificial intelligence is here, there, and everywhere – so promising, slightly mysterious, but undeniably guiding humanity toward a brighter future of technological singularity that’s still somewhat incomprehensible and potentially a black hole.

Some readers might detect sarcasm in this statement – but that would be a mistake. Machine-learning-driven automation (ML), neural networks, and other AI technologies have already taken over many industries. And there’s more to come in the evolution of Homo sapiens. If you’re interested in diving deeper into this topic, check out the history of the various industrial revolutions: first, second, third, and even fourth.

In line with this trend, cybersecurity was perhaps one of the pioneers in adopting new, smart technologies. And what makes me particularly proud of this process is that our company was one of the first in the industry to successfully implement this bright AI-driven future. How else could we possibly handle nearly half a million (!) new malicious programs emerging every single day as of early 2025? No educational system in the world can produce enough experts to keep up with that. The only solution is to create intelligent systems capable of independently and highly accurately neutralizing cyberattacks. Experts are then left with only the most complex cases – and, of course, the challenging task of inventing and continuously improving these systems.

A few days ago, we celebrated a cool anniversary. Twenty years ago was born the prototype of our first AI/ML technology for automatic malware analysis and the creation of “detections” – antivirus updates that protect computers, gadgets, and other devices from new attacks.

The technology was given a name that’s rather odd at first glance – Avtodyatel, which translates as Auto-Woodpecker! But there’s a simple explanation for it: within our team, security analysts were affectionately referred to as woodpeckers – tirelessly pecking away at viruses and processing streams of suspicious files. And then we added the “Auto” to “Woodpecker” for the name of the tech designed to do this job automatically (incidentally, I was a woodpecker myself back then).

Read on…

Some cities in the world are located amid exceptionally picturesque landscapes. For example, Rio de Janeiro, Istanbul, Hong Kong, and Sydney are all surrounded by scenic mountains and/or unique coastal formations. In this regard, Lima, the capital of Peru, is also rather lucky:

The city center is situated on a high oceanfront cliff, offering absolutely stunning views:

Read on…

So how do you go about planning and preparing for complex vacation on the other side of the world, with a complex route for getting there, and then a complex itinerary once in situ?…

And I don’t mean the simple “jump in a taxi, train or plane, and travel where you’re going and figure it out on the fly, whether it’s St. Pete, Sochi, Yalta, or maybe Monaco, Venice, Barcelona, Miami or LA (or wherever else, depending on where you live)”. No, not like that. What does it take to plan a more sophisticated travel itinerary?…

Now, I’m not claiming to be an expert, but here’s roughly how it works for me:

1. Pick: the places we’re going to visit; what we’re planning to see, admire, and snap; plus any extra side-dish (or totally random) activities to be partaken in.
2. Find someone to organize it all, because let’s be honest – we hardly know anything about these places besides their names. This is where the travel route gets mapped out. Usually it’s a mix of advice from those in the know, local contacts, and a travel agency (sometimes more than one).
3. Figure out how to get there and back – which isn’t always straightforward or optimal.
4. Set the budget for the whole thing. And prepare to disappoint those involved in Step 5… ->
5. Recruit a few other similarly crazy individuals (or just folks who’ve no clue what kind of hardships and misadventures await) so the trip doesn’t get too boring and lonely.

And that’s it! Then we just go…

So, where to this time? Drum roll……………………….. crash cymbal! -> to Peru and Bolivia! Hooray!

And what’s on the itinerary?…

First off, the Nazca Lines:

Read on…

Everything must come to an end – and that included our China-2024 trip…

The final stop on our itinerary was Binggou Danxia Landform and Geopark – located about 12km from the famous rainbow-colored Zhangye Danxia mountains. The scenery here is totally different – not the undulating multicolored-stripe landscapes, but massive rock formations of all shapes and sizes spread out across a large area. You’ve got to hand it to Mother Nature’s geological design skills! ->

Read on…