From JuJu with Love

There are some places in the world where you’re supposed to behave with a little more reverence.

Apparently, Machu Picchu is one of them.

Standing at the top of Machu Picchu, surrounded by the Andes Mountains and the ruins of an ancient Incan city, definitely feels like one of them.

But nobody told my Michigan flag.

As part of my personal tradition of taking the University of Michigan around the globe, I pulled out my maize-and-blue flag at the top of Machu Picchu for a quick photo. What I didn’t realize was that my friend Bill—our tour leader and a die-hard Ohio State Buckeye—had decided this was the perfect moment to escalate the rivalry.

Every time I take out my Michigan flag somewhere around the world, Bill feels it’s his Buckeye duty to sabotage the picture. Usually that means jumping into the background or pretending to grab the flag.

This time, he actually lunged for it.

Suddenly we heard a loud voice shouting in Spanish.

A security guard was screaming at us, waving his arms and clearly very unhappy. Between the Spanish we didn’t understand and the tone we absolutely did, it became clear that flags and advertisements are not allowed at Machu Picchu.

Oops.

Bill immediately backed away.

I quickly folded up the Michigan flag like it had never existed.

And for a few seconds I was absolutely convinced I was about to be arrested in Peru and spend the rest of my life explaining to people that it all started with a college football rivalry.

Thankfully the guard just scolded us and sent us on our way.

The flag survived.

My freedom survived.

And somewhere in the Andes, the Michigan–Ohio State rivalry nearly became an international incident.

But let the record show:

Even when the Buckeyes try to sabotage the moment…

Go Blue travels everywhere.

From Juju with love 💙🇵🇪

This post is part of my Go Blue Around the Globe series, where I take my Michigan flag to memorable places around the world.