The El Castillo pyramid is the dominant structure at the archeological site of Chichén Itzá, located in the Mexican state of Yucatán.
It is thought that the site dates back to the early 400s A.D., and every year thousands of tourists visit it, according to History.com.
According to Merco Press, the old building has been off-limits to the public since 2008 so that it can be protected and appreciated by future generations.
Fines ranging from $2,558 to an incredible $5,115 are in place to discourage anyone from breaching this regulation.
However, despite this outcome, one woman continued to climb the Mesoamerican step pyramid.
Following the widely shared video of the anonymous woman scaling the ancient landmark, a viewer expressed her disapproval, saying, “It’s so disrespectful.”
“I instantly feel happy that everyone there wasn’t having it and rightfully booed her off,” another person said.
A third said, “Y’all legit don’t disrespect people’s cultures in other countries,”
“She should be fined for climbing it,” added another person.
“They should have put her in jail… the disrespect,” commented a fifth commenter.
People were outraged when they saw the footage of the woman scaling the pyramid on TikTok.
When she gets to the top in the video, she poses and dances before a security guard ushers her back down.
Merco Press claims that spectators yelled “sacrifice” and “jail,” while Sky News adds that after she down the pyramid again, several of them grabbed her hair, pushed her, and doused her in water.
The woman was detained by Tinum Municipal Police and penalized by Article 55 of the Federal Law on Archaeological, Artistic, and Historical Monuments, according to Riviera Maya News.
The amount of the fine has not been made public.
An official statement was provided to The Independent by the National Institute of Anthropology and History (INAH).
The translation provided by the publication claims that El Castillo was unharmed by the visitor.
The statement reads: “The reasons why it is not allowed to climb the pyramidal structures were explained to the person and they were made available to the Secretariat of Public Security of the State of Yucatán, where it will comply with the corresponding administrative sanctions.”
It goes on to say that visitors ought to “respect the provisions” that have been made.
There are more tourists who have scaled the pyramid and encountered the anger of the villagers than the nameless woman.
An infuriated mob confronts a man being led down the stairs of a pyramid in another video that has gone viral.
A man wearing shorts and sandals, who was bare-chested, struck the tourist in the back of the head with a stick.
Witness Daniel Fretwell gave the following account of the incident to the Metro: “I could hear and see maybe 30 or 40 people shouting ‘No, no, come down, don’t do it, no.’ People were whistling, trying to draw the man’s attention that he was doing wrong.”
The visitor was allegedly detained for around 12 hours and fined 5,000 pesos ($265).
It is thought that he informed authorities that he entered the forbidden area to snap pictures for social media.
