Tourist attacked by locals after climbing forbidden Mayan temple in Mexico
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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.
In 1989 I climbed the pyramid at Tulum, but it was legal at the time. I hear that it isn't allowed any more.
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I climbed that pyramid forever ago when it was still legal to do so.
Tons of people were going up & down. I didn’t realize things had changed and that it was also on the list of “new” 7 wonders of the world.
It was a bitch coming down though because it’s so steep.
Anyway, dude should have known better.
I climbed the pyramid at Tulum in 1989. I hear its not allowed any more.
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You got to wonder how much damage that thing gets just being constantly exposed to the weather
Normally ruins like that have jungle right up to the edges or its partially buried.
At any point would it be worth trying to put some sort of protective coating on it like a type of historically accurate stucco to recreate what it looked like in the past?
No.
Restoring historical artefacts in a way that is sympathetic to its age is more or less impossible.
You're not protecting what's there, rather creating something new.
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It belongs in a museum!
SO DO YOU!
Throw him over the side.
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You got to wonder how much damage that thing gets just being constantly exposed to the weather
Normally ruins like that have jungle right up to the edges or its partially buried.
At any point would it be worth trying to put some sort of protective coating on it like a type of historically accurate stucco to recreate what it looked like in the past?
Stucco is much more fragile and degrades rather quickly.
That's why it usually hasn't survived in these monuments and why it usually isn't restored, it would cost way too much on maintenance.
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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 souvenir stands and 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 that takes you out of experiencing your surroundings. 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 it 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.
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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 souvenir stands and 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 that takes you out of experiencing your surroundings. 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 it with more respect.
It's not so great that it means this violator is attacked by the locals.
It's not?
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No.
Restoring historical artefacts in a way that is sympathetic to its age is more or less impossible.
You're not protecting what's there, rather creating something new.
Well, in 500 years it may be destroyed anyways. Isn't it a little selfish to not try and preserve it in some form for future generations?
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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.
oh shit... i was there on that day! and i missed it...
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If you study the classical Maya on a university level the experts do agree the Classical Maya preferred aristocrat blood, this is why they had many ceremonies for bloodletting that was a form of non fatal blood sacrifice. Also aristocratic families did have children they intend to sacrifice. War captives were always a big part of Mesoamerican culture, as you can see from the only surviving codexies, and from the surviving stories and culture still a part of Maya culture, but they culturally valued aristocrat blood as the main need of the Gods. It's not a controversial or debated aspect of their culture.
yeah, according to our mayan guide when i was there the human sacrifices never happened... but they were extremely inconsistent with their stories and also believed that the number of days in the solar year is connected with human body through the number of joints so i wouldn't take their word for it.
when i was listening to what guides in other groups were telling about the same spots and traditions i noticed that each and every one of them had their own fantastic and completely different story and many of the things they were saying were clearly wrong (e.g. that the descent of kukulcan shadow play only happens on two particular days of the year).
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It's not so great that it means this violator is attacked by the locals.
It's not?
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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.
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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 souvenir stands and 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 that takes you out of experiencing your surroundings. 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 it with more respect.
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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 restrained & attacked by locals" or some such.
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It's just a little corrupt, the democracy's still good, the democracy's still good
When pigs fly hahahahahahahahahaha wa what
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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.
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Good. Wish more locals in tourists hotspots would gang up on asshole tourists. Like Bali is infested with entitled westerners and asshole bogans. It’s the colonial mindset these tourists have.
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Virtue signaling BS. That motherfucker deserves his ass to be beaten to shit
Honestly wish he fell from the top
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Good. Wish more locals in tourists hotspots would gang up on asshole tourists. Like Bali is infested with entitled westerners and asshole bogans. It’s the colonial mindset these tourists have.
How's Bali
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Colonialism is about extracting resources. Living in a low cost of living area on passive income attained globally is quite the opposite.
