A dissident tourist is met after him by an angry mob Climb the ancient Mayan pyramid A 29-year-old Mexican national was identified in the Mexican city of Chichen Itza this week.
Officials said Abigail Villalobos tried to pass herself off as Hispanic after she was arrested for her viral stunt, but it was determined that she was in fact from Mexico.
Villalobos was detained for about 30 minutes at Tenom Police Station on Monday, fined the equivalent of $260 and then released, according to the report. By the Mexican news outlet Golfo Pacifico.
Villalobos sparked outrage when it broke rules banning visitors from climbing the 98-foot-tall Mayan temple at Kukulkan, which was named one of the New Seven Wonders of the World by UNESCO in 2007.
She is seen on TikTok videos dancing on the steps at the top of the pyramid and entering the temple, before descending to the sounds of loud jeers from a crowd of visitors.
Angry spectators hurled profanities at the breaker, calling her a “hole” and “idiot” in Spanish, and demanded that she be imprisoned.
Some particularly upset witnesses went so far as to spray Villalobos with water, pull the hat off her head and pull her blonde locks while she was being led away by officials of the Mexican Institute of Anthropology and History (INAH).
The viral stunt earned the clueless perpetrator the derisive nickname “Our Lady of Chichen Itza” on social media.
The Mayan pyramid, a UNESCO World Heritage Site, has been off-limits to visitors since 2008 for conservation purposes.
The National Institute of Anthropology and History said Monday that the temple, also known as El Castillo, was not damaged.
Penalties under the Mexican Federal Law on Archaeological, Artistic, and Historic Monuments and Areas for accessing a site without a permit range anywhere from $2,500 to over $5,000.
The Step Pyramid was built by the Maya civilization sometime between the 8th and 12th centuries AD to serve as a temple to the feathered serpent deity Kukulkan.
In 2021, a Tijuana, Mexico woman was fined for climbing the same pyramid while allegedly intoxicated.
