There’s something about majestic, ancient ruins that makes people want to take off their clothes (see: Justin Bieber). It got so bad at Machu Picchu that in 2014, Peru’s Ministry of Culture asked people to control their urge to take off their clothes. “There are places in the world that people can get naked, but not all places are (appropriate) for getting undressed,” Alfredo Mormontoy Atayupanqui told CNN.
But people continue to strip down – increased security and stern warnings on admission tickets be damned. 10 tourists got undressed at Machu Picchu in 2015, and there have already been two nekkid people running around the ruins this year.
A couple years ago, Paul Marshall – the man behind Naked at Monuments – said Machu Picchu was an incredibly easy place to get naked. He gave it a 1.5/5 difficulty rating. “The reason this has such a low difficulty rating is because far too many of my friends have been naked here,” he wrote.
While we can’t really answer why people are taking off all their clothes at Machu Picchu (¯\_(ツ)_/¯) , we can give you a brief, NSFW timeline of people birthday suiting up:
1
The first of 2016
Date: March 2016
The first two people to get naked (or at least to get caught) at Machu Picchu were Adam Burton, 23, and his French friend Eric Xavier Mariec, 28. They were arrested and their pictures were released by the police to try to dissuade others from following in their footsteps, according to the Telegraph.
2
The foursome
Date: March 2014
Alex Brian Hager, Terry Wayne Curnes, Tyler Addison Curnes, and Quintín Manuel Quevedo are tourists from the U.S. who also decided to take it all off. Three of them were in their 20s, and Terry was in his 50s, according to El Comercio. Their cameras were seized, and it doesn’t seem like any of the pictures have been posted online – at least not publicly.
3
The Two-In-One-Day
Date: March 2014
On the same day – and a mere two days before the U.S. nudists – four people were caught getting naked, proving that March may be the optimal time to take naked pictures at Machu Picchu.
The first incident occurred at 6 a.m. when Australians Thomas William Halse and Sam Adrian Parnell were caught with their pants off. Parnell tried to bribe officials so that they wouldn’t get in trouble with the law.
The second pair was caught at 8:15 a.m. Marc Antonie Daudelin and Patrice Mathien were seen taking photos with their cell phones. The photos were erased from their phones, according to El Comercio.
4
The picture that shouldn't have been
Date: November 2013
Australian Sydney Rudevies Liam Timothy (then 18) and New Zealander Topp Mathew Jared (then 30) posed naked in 2013. They were arrested, and Ricardo Ruiz Caro Villagarcía said that they were made to erase the images from their cameras; yet, here we are looking at pictures of their censored butts.
They have been incorrectly identified by other outlets as a female and male duo seen on camera, but with a police report, Fertur Travels has the most proof that these two men are indeed Liam and Topp.
5
The sprinting streakers
Date: February 2014?
These streakers have been identified as Liam Timothy and Topp Mathew by some, but they have been unnamed by others. According to The Daily Mail, this video was first uploaded in February 2014, though some outlets have said it dates back to 2013. The only thing that is clear is that their video has been seen at least 700,000 times.
6
The Time & Place-approved nude tourism
Date: 2013
On July 29, 2013, British clothing company Time & Place posted a video of a man taking nude pictures at different locations, including Machu Picchu.
“Ever wondered what it would feel like to get naked in some of the world’s most spectacular locations?” the video’s description reads. “Of course you have! So did our mystery man. Time & Place Clothing decided to give him an ASSignment, like Jason Bourne but as a nudist, minus the gun and murder. This if for all you ASSpiring nude tourists!”
7
The habitual nudist
Date: Unknown
Amichay Rab from Tel Aviv, Israel has posed naked all over Central and South America on his site, My Naked Trip. He said that he started taking off his clothes because “some place were really hot, and I had to do something about it…”
His cousin inspired him to start photographing himself during his travels.