Tourist who sparked outrage by climbing Mayan pyramid IDed
A renegade tourist who was met by a furious mob after climbing an ancient Mayan pyramid in Mexico’s Chichén Itzá this week has been identified as a 29-year-old Mexican national.
Officials said that Abigail Villalobos had attempted to pass herself off as a Spaniard after she was arrested for her viral stunt, but it has since been determined that she is actually from Mexico.
Villalobos was detained for about 30 minutes at the Tinum police station Monday, fined the equivalent of $260 and then released, according to reporting by the Mexican news outlet Golfo Pacifico.
Villalobos sparked outrage when she flouted rules prohibiting visitors from scaling the 98-foot Mayan Temple of Kukulcán, which was named one of the New 7 Wonders of the World by UNESCO in 2007.
She was seen in 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.
Furious onlookers hurled profanities at the rule-breaker, calling her an “a–hole” and an “idiot” in Spanish, and demanding that she be jailed.
Some particularly offended witnesses went so far as to spray Villalobos with water, knock the hat off her head and pull on her blonde locks as she was being led away by officials with the Mexican Institute of Anthropology and History (INAH).
The viral stunt has earned the clueless culprit the mocking moniker “Lady Chichén Itzá” on social media sites.
The Mayan pyramid, which is a UNESCO world heritage site, has been off-limits to visitors since 2008 for preservation purposes.
The National Institute of Anthropology and History said Monday that the temple, also known as El Castillo, has not been harmed.
Penalties established by Mexico’s Federal Law on Monuments and Archaeological, Artistic and Historical Areas for accessing the site without authorization range anywhere from $2,500 to more than $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 Kukulcán.
In 2021, a woman from Tijuana, Mexico, was fined for climbing the same pyramid while allegedly intoxicated.
