A woman tourist was booed and ushered off an ancient Mayan pyramid in Mexico after she blatantly disregarded protocol and climbed up the stone structure.
In a video circulating on social media, the woman with blonde hair wearing a blue T-shirt and red pants is seen defiantly rejoicing at the summit of the Chichén Itzá, Kukulcan Serpent, after climbing the pyramid.
The Chichén Itzá is a Unesco World Heritage Site, a New 7 Wonders of the World and one of the most popular attractions in Mexico, with over two million visitors each year.
A disrespectful tourist climbs an ancient Mayan pyramid in Mexico and gets booed pic.twitter.com/ZMAnwf0Euo
— Fifty Shades of Whey (@davenewworld_2) November 21, 2022
The archaeological site is a ruined ancient Mayan city in south-central Yucatán state, Mexico, and is thought to have been a religious, military, political, and commercial centre that at its peak would have been home to 35 000 people.
Climbing the 24 metre Kukulcán temple at the Chichén Itzá archaeological site is prohibited by law. The prohibition came into effect in 2008 due to concerns about the potential for damage to the structure.
The video of the blasphemous tourist has received 9 million views on Twitter since it was posted.
In the video, the woman can be seen standing on the steps of the ancient structure and swaying her hips from side to side, dancing, and an unknown man climbs up the structure to escort her off the temple, with crowds of tourists scolding and booing her.
One Twitter user, Moe S, responded to the video and said: “Imagine someone from Mexico doing anything near this disrespectful to an American monument. Every media outlet would be running the video continuously for weeks. But when Americans do it to a Mexican monument, it’s not news.”
Imagine someone from Mexico doing anything anywhere near this disrespectful to an American monument. Every media outlet would be running the video continuously for weeks. But when Americans do it to a Mexican monument, it's not news.
— Moe S (@Sigma_Drac) November 21, 2022
Another user, Sen, responded: “To be fair, white Americans have been disrespectfully walking over other people’s history and culture since 1492, so it really isn’t new.”
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