Machu Picchu is an Incan site from the 15th century located in Peru at an altitude of over 2,000 meters and is a well-known World Heritage Site. Each year, a huge number of tourists from around the world visit the site, and some say that the they are moved to tears by the magnificent view. It is probably on many people’s list of must visit places.

Such a famous tourist attraction is certain to offer a wide variety of souvenirs to visitors, but it seems there has been much talk recently about a particular type of souvenir from Machu Picchu.

The souvenir that is attracting attention is a kind of postcard sold by local vendors in Machu Picchu. And it’s no ordinary postcard. We interviewed a Japanese tourist who visited Machu Picchu to hear about it.

According to the tourist, “Local vendors at Machu Picchu suddenly come to sell you postcards on the street, but what makes these postcards different is that your picture is pasted on them.”

What is happeing here is that local vendors are arbitrarily taking pictures of visitors and pasting the pictures on regular postcards of Machu Picchu to sell to the unsuspecting visitors. Well. it’s not everyday that you see a postcard of a famous tourist site with your own picture on it! However, the quality of the finished product is not exactly of the highest standard, as the picture starts to peel off after some time. Nonetheless, the Japanese tourist we talked to told us that the postcards seemed to be quite popular with sightseers. It certainly does make for a very unique souvenir.

If you ever have the chance, it might be fun to buy a postcatrd featuring yourself at Machu Picchu. It will most definitely give you something to talk about later!

photo: rocketnews24


[ Read in Japanese ]