A female tourist was attacked by a crowd of people Sunday after she ignored the law and climbed an ancient Mayan pyramid in Mexico.
As seen in videos posted on social media, the woman, who is reportedly a Mexican citizen, walked up the stairs of the Kukulkan Pyramid in Chichen Itza, an archaeological site in the Yucatan Peninsula of southern Mexico.
She ascended to the top of the Mayan landmark and appeared to interpret the crowd’s jeering as cheers while she danced at the temple’s peak.
A disrespectful tourist climbs an ancient Mayan pyramid in Mexico and gets booed pic.twitter.com/ZMAnwf0Euo</ a>
— Fifty Shades of Whey (@davenewworld_2) November 21, 2022
A staffer then escorted the tourist down the steps to an angry crowd chanting “Jail!” in Spanish. People also tossed water on the woman.
In a separate video, another woman appears to yank the tourist’s hair as she’s being led out, causing the tourist to turn and throw a punch that doesn’t strike anyone.
Yucatan’s secretary of public security told Mexican media outlets that the woman, who was identified as Abigail Villalobos, was fined $5,000 pesos, or the equivalent of $258.
Mexico’s National Institute of Anthropology and History has barred tourists from climbing the pyramid since 2008, according to MercoPress, a news agency in Uruguay. Two years earlier, an elderly American woman fell to her death while ascending the 91-step structure.
The Kukulkan Pyramid, also called El Castillo or the Castle, was built by the Mayans between the 800 and 1200 A.D. The structure is nearly 100 feet tall.
• Matt Delaney can be reached at mdelaney@washingtontimes.com.
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