Tourist attacked with stick after climbing sacred Mayan pyramid
Locals have attacked a man with a stick after walking up a sacred Mayan pyramid. Watch below:
The large pre-Columbian city of Chichen Itza sits in Tinúm Municipality, Yucatán State, Mexico and a tourist opted to climb the prohibited Temple of Kukulcan (El Castillo).
Since 2008, penalties are issued to those who climb up the pyramid due to it being a pre-historic structure that needs conservation.
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The tourist is filmed barefoot at the top of the temple - which is nearly 100 feet in height, with 91 steps on each of its four sides - as two suspected officials appear to escort him back down.
When the man - who is reportedly a 33-year-old tourist of Polish origin - got down to the bottom of the stairs, he was met by a wave of angry locals as one person is seen hitting him on the head with a stick.
We don't know if the tourist received a penalty.
According to state law, fines can be as high as 100,000 pesos, which equates to about $5,000 USD.
Article 55 of The Federal Law on Monuments and Archaeological, Artistic and Historical Areas states: “Any violation of this Law or its Regulations, which is not provided for in this chapter, will be sanctioned by the competent Institutes, with a fine of one hundred and fifty thousand pesos; which they may challenge through the appeal for reconsideration, under the terms of the Regulations of this Law.”
Commenting on the viral footage, many viewers were confused by the penalty fee as they say they used to climb up the mountain all the time.
One viewer wrote: "I’ve been up there and inside."
Another person claimed: "You could climb it in 2017. I did, along with a thousand other tourists. Wow."
"When I went there in early 2000s you could walk everywhere," someone else said.
Well the area is one of the most visited archaeological sites in Mexico and was seen by over 2.6 million tourists back 2017.
Chichén Itzá was also declared one of the New Seven Wonders of the World, having already been declared a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1988.
If you're looking to not climb up the temple and just visit, the cost of entry into the area varies depending on what time of the year you go and if you are local or not.
Non-citizens usually pay up to 533 Pesos (80 to the site custodians and 453 Pesos in taxes to the state), which is approximately US$26 for an adult.
Mexican citizens are charged 157 Pesos on top of the 80 Pesos general entry fee, but not on Sundays.
Anish Vij