Summary
A German tourist was arrested and attacked after climbing the Temple of Kukulcan at Chichen Itza, Mexico, during the spring equinox.
Video footage shows locals shouting insults and physically confronting the man as National Guard personnel detained him.
The temple, a UNESCO World Heritage site and one of the New Seven Wonders of the World, is off-limits to climbers due to preservation laws and safety concerns.
Violators face fines up to $16,000 and possible prison time.
The incident occurred amid a crowd of 8,000–9,000 visitors.
Not an American tourist this time
There’s a weird moment where it’s “Fuck, here we go aga… wait… it’s not our fault this time?”
UN: “USA, NO!”
USA: “What? I’m right here.”
UN: “Sorry, force of habit. GERMANY, NO!”
A German tourist
Sorry for not sending out best. I hope the guys wore socks in sandals at least to properly represent our national outfit.
Every country has its idiots, but none moreso than America right now.
Not really, the thing with the US is just that it joined a long list of countries led by people who should be committed for their own good. The US is not unique really at this point.
US tourists have nothing on UK stag-doers. Those people are a plague.
It’s great that we’re enforcing laws that are there to protect our anthropological heritage. It’s not so great that it means this violator is attacked by the locals.
As an aide, I feel like Mexico themselves have quite a ways to go to protect the heritage site. The grounds of Chichen Itzá are absolutely overrun with “tour guides” telling dumbed down or outright fabricated stories and literally hundreds of souvenir stands with obnoxious sellers that don’t shy from any tactic to try to get your attention.
Walking around in that area should be serene, educational and immersive. Instead, it’s like being in a kindergarten, where hordes of salespeople are incessantly calling out to you (“where are you from, sir, where are you from?”), literally throwing cheap Chinese junk in your direction, playing drums and pan flutes or squeezing squeaky toys and gimmicks that are meant to sound like monkeys. It’s a cacophony of cheap garbage and harassment from locals (and nonstop clapping to hear the temple’s acoustic effect) that takes you out of experiencing your surroundings in an inkling of tranquility. In fact, only from specific angles is it even possible to capture a photo of the Temple of Kukulcán without the brightly colored eye sores of a hundred nearly identical souvenir stands visible directly adjacent to it.
Mexico should also take more pride in this site and treat Chichen Itzá with more respect.
No matter how much you try, Chichen Itzá will never be tranquil, it is visited by thousands of tourists every day, so it will always be crowded and full of voices.
Vendors are usually local indigenous people, and selling to tourists is their only source of income, it would be silly on their part not to take advantage of the situation.
Perhaps you’ve not visited this place, so for an impression: the area itself is very large and open and the site has restricted access with a fairly pricey admission fee.
Voices don’t carry very far in this environment, however the issue is that there are literally hundreds if not close to a thousand vendors literally screaming for attention. My objection is to the authorities who have permitted this kind of presence at a heritage site. Of course locals have taken advantage of the situation, that much is very clear.
I’ve been there many times.
“My objection is to the authorities who have permitted this kind of presence at a heritage site”
Not allowing them would wreck the local economy. It will not happen.
So that’s it? We concede that this is the acceptable way we as a species best want to present our anthropological heritage? Forgive my comments on how we can strive to do better.
If you want Chichen Itzá to turn into a quiet library it’s not going to happen.
It’s one of the seven wonders of the modern world, you have the same experience if you visit the Vatican or the pissa tower.
There are many other sites in Yucatan that don’t receive as many visitors like ek’ balam and mayapan. Those are usually less crowded.
I’m not sure why you’ve chosen to be obtuse and misinterpret my comments. I’ve not said that Chichen Itzá should become a library.
The Vatican and Pisa are actually terrific examples of sites that are not overrun with tour guide and market stand mafias running every tourist scam under the sun.
Virtue signaling BS. That motherfucker deserves his ass to be beaten to shit
Honestly wish he fell from the top
Good grief, this is such a toxic community.
You can tell when someone never actually gets physical by the way they comment lol
It’s not so great that it means this violator is attacked by the locals.
It’s not?
Not for me; I don’t endorse violence.
The headline annoys me, it makes it sound like a hapless tourist was attacked by vicious indigens.
I can well imagine how they told him not to do it, and eventually had to resort to physically getting him back down when he just didn’t listen. Maybe technically an attack, but at the very least it should’ve read:
“Tourist violating ancient artefacts attacked and restrained by locals” or some such.
So you decided to not read the article and fabricate your own, fictional version of events?
Video also shows members of the public running up to the man as he was being led away by National Guard personnel, and hitting and yelling at him in the process.
