Cholita Wrestling in Bolivia

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Cholita Wrestling in Bolivia

Petticoats fly across the ring as the two women send each other crashing to the floor. The passion and effort behind the moves is sensational and the crowd are caught up in the performance.

I read an article on this extraordinary twist on wrestling in The National Geographic last year. So when I found myself in La Paz on a Sunday evening, it was a perfect coincidence and opportunity to see exactly what this is all about.

Cholita is the name of Bolivian women who wear traditional dress, and in most parts of Bolivia 80%!o(MISSING)f ladies dress this way. Basically this means long pleated skirts with several petticoats, woollen hand knitted cardigans and bowler hats made iconic by Charlie Chaplin, completed with a shawl clasped on the left with a large pin.

Being a tourist in South America is like sticking a sign on your back saying please over charge me for everything and rip me off at every possible opportunity. Apparently “I can afford to be ripped off, so please do it well and do it repeatedly. Please.” Why do I feel this way?

Well as a typical kiwi trying to avoid the well trodden path, we find a local bus to take us to El Alto - the location of the wrestling, on which a drunken man takes a nap on my shoulder: buses are actually just minivans jammed packed to the max. We arrive two hours early as we are have heard the ques can be quite long. Ten minutes before the doors are due to open a paper sign goes up over the ticket booth welcoming ‘foreign friends’, and reminding us that management reserve rights to the wrestling and instead of the standard 15b we must pay 50b. My anger is not at all placated by the fact I get a snack included in the price. Admitidly the popcorn was nice but that is entirely besides the point!

Once the show starts I slowly forget the injustice, and feel nervous as the fighters spill out of the ring and close to our seats. The first act is an army man fighting a guy dressed in a skeleton suit who likes to dance and has a Rasta midget who looks like Chucky helping him out. I am impressed by their commitment to dive from the ropes, leap over each others heads and take some hits that are definitely not fake.

The female Cholita wrestlers come out next and their acting skills kinda puts the guys to shame. Showing their fear and emotion as the fight begins. One potraying the aggressive mean woman and the other a feminine lady. They are completely brutal with each other. Being dragged by the hair across the ring then flung over the ropes leaving their modesty in tatters. Luckily the femenine girl has the referee on her side.

The referee is quite a character on his own, regularly taking one fighters side. This is not to his advantage however as revenge is often sought. At one point he was attacked by three fighting Cholitas and then later had his pants pulled down.

With six different fights we were well entertained and towards the end stunned and concerned.

“That fighter is taking a glass bottle from the audience.”
“Oh my lord, he is too.”
“Holy smoke, that guy is totally knocked out cold.”
“Everyone seems to be leaving.”
‘He is so not moving.’
‘I guess the show is over.’

And this was after a guy had is pants on fire and his opponent accidentally had is plastic mask melt to his face, there were wooden crates broken over heads and a miss jump resulted in a ‘carry off’. One of the fighters missed the floor and landed full force on his enemy’s chest, knees first. The lack of any kind of first aid or paramedic left me quite concerned that there might be some long-term damage. But there is not much to do accept thank the fighters and get the hell out of there.

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Comments

[Hurricane]

Oh my gosh that is insane!!! Quite the experience.