JUST STAY HOME: Tourists face prison and deportation

Why do they bother to travel? You have to wonder at people who spend time and money to get to a destination, only to scribble graffiti on monuments, steal artifacts, strip down to take naked pictures of themselves against historic backdrops (including religious sites), or turn their backs to magnificent scenery they really can’t be bothered to actually look at, and fall off a cliff while taking a selfie. We see it all too frequently – but pooping in a temple is a new low.

No shit!

Six tourists were detained and one is facing a criminal trial after being accused of damaging Peru’s cultural heritage and allegedly defecating in a sacred temple. The alleged offenses took place at the iconic Machu Picchu.

Overnight visits are banned but the six tourists, from Argentina, Brazil, Chile and France, sneaked into a restricted area of the Temple of the Sun to sleep overnight.

They are accused of ‘damaging cultural heritage’ and one, Argentine Nahuel Gomez who admitted to attempting to remove a stone from the temple is facing up to four years in prison.

The other five will be deported, according to regional police chief Victor Andres Patino.

Machu Picchu is considered the most important site from the Inca Empire.

None of us really want to believe this, after all our livelihoods depend on the opposite advice – but some people should just stay home.