Disrespectful or Not? Tourist Illegally Climbs Chichén Itzá.

Question

I would like to see CC viewpoints on this. I would have originally thought that there shouldn’t be much controversy on this and as a whole majority would agree that it was disrespectful given Mexico and Yucatán’s law that the climbing of certain ruins is strictly prohibited. However I’ve seen many comments on TikTok defending the woman’s behavior and even have seen Mexicans  defend it. So I’m curious to hear your thoughts. I’ve attached the article.

I personally think she was being disrespectful. I don’t particularly care about the promise she made her late husband, it was still disrespectful and unneeded. They closed off all of the ruins located in Chichén Itzá due to deterioration, accidents, and people disrespecting the ruins by defecating, robbery of the few jewels they had there, and other shitty things. When I went in 2019, our tourist guide made sure we knew it wasn’t allowed to climb the pyramid nor touch any of the other ruins. They were all closed off with signs warning tourist to not touch, sit or stand the ruins. It blows my mind the disrespect people have towards others cultures.

Answer

Yes I think it is incredibly disrespectful and just an overall shitty thing to do. They had to close them for a reason and while she may have been there for a specific mission she was drunk and in places clearly closed off. I have no tiktok but what were the people defending her saying??? Was it just because they were supposed to be her husbands ashes or was there other reasons they were on her side?

Answer

If the rule is no climbing the site, then that's the rule. Promises made to dying family members do not override ordinances around appropriate use of national/culturally significant monuments. Her behaviour was absolutely disrespectful.

Answer

Disrespectful af. Yes, her husband died, but this is a monument of an entire civilization that was lost to us. There are other pyramids she could have climbed (as far as I'm aware). Don't make promises you can't keep. And by all that's holy, don't go climbing pyramids while intoxicated 🤦

Answer

If its illegal its illegal.... simple. She should have talked to appropriate authorities and maybe gotten special clearance to do so and maybe they wouldve escorted her. But just to break rules..... no ma”am.

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It's not necessarily about being disrespectful of Mexican culture to me (although one can easily argue that it is, and I'm white so my opinion doesn't really matter), but it's about disrespecting history. You should go to the site with a clear head and be able to appreciate it's majesty and all of hundreds of years it has seen. You should understand that to be able to maintain it and not have it disappear into the void that is human history without artifacts, it means abiding by certain rules. And in this case, it means no climbing. 
In the case of the Mona Lisa, it means no breathing on it. You're not allowed to climb the Pyramids of Giza either. You can't go to the Machu Picchu citadel without a tour guide and you have to stay on a designated path. Historical sites need to be preserved and that can't be done if people don't respect them.
Spreading her husband's ashes at the base of the pyramid would have been enough. If it wasn't, there's no harm in asking first - the worst that they could say was "No".

Answer

It seems disrespectful to me. Also, shouldn’t keep a promise if it’s illegal so I don’t care what her husbands wishes were she shouldn’t have done it.

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I personally believe it is disrespectful to destroy, damage, altar, climb on or whatever anything (monument or not) that is not your property. I think they should all be respected and their fate should be left up to the owners. 
The world seems to have decided though,  that monuments don't matter. It is not up to me to decide what monuments need to be preserved and what monuments need to be disrespected and/or destroyed.

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Incredibly disrespectful.

Answer

How is she not being disrespectful??
She wasn’t allowed to so she disrespected the rules of another place. Also, she’s a tourist so she has no idea what local culture is. Mostly though, that’s a sacred site and there’s a reason they don’t want people doing that—it’s bad for the place. Incredibly disrespectful, these people are just assholes who think bc they’re tourists they can do what they want. Hope she spends a little time writhing in fear at the thought of foreign jail!

Answer

Inappropriate, yes. I think I'd need to know more to decide if it's disrespectful. Like, yes, she was a tourist, but was her husband part of that culture and that's why he wanted his ashes there, or did they just think it would be cool?

Disrespectful or Not? Tourist Illegally Climbs Chichén Itzá.

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