The female wrestlers of Bolivia
24 images Created 15 Apr 2013
At the City of El Alto – located at 4,000 meters above sea level, beside city of La Paz, Bolivia-, tourists and local people form a line to get tickets for the Cholitas wrestlers' show. Every Sunday the Cholitas prepare themselves to give a wrestling show. They wear traditional costumes of Aymaras women, preserved from Colonial period, that consists in baggy skirts, bombines –bowler hat-, plastic shoes, long braids, and flashy jewelry, make up and embroidered shawls.
Yenny Wilma Maraz - well known as “Marta La Alteña”- dances at music rhythm and open her arms to greet the public; she delivers her shawl and hat to get into the ring. Proudly she goes atop of ring, even when is booed by the audience. She is ruda -the bad guys- and will have to fight against the good ones.
Wrestling is a theatrical production, but it also requires physical effort and constant training to perform flights from the ring ropes and to withstand falls, which are often painful.
Wrestling events are a big business. Each week hundreds of tourists and Bolivian attend to see the Cholitas beating their opponents. Cholitas as other fighters belong to different groups handled by managers, who often take advantage and keep most of profits, leaving anything for them. The result is dividing; therefore wrestlers formed new groups such as The Goddesses of Ring, who offer a show in different parts of the city. Bolivian wrestling has become very popular and has crossed borders, thanks to the Cholitas wrestler.
Yenny Wilma Maraz - well known as “Marta La Alteña”- dances at music rhythm and open her arms to greet the public; she delivers her shawl and hat to get into the ring. Proudly she goes atop of ring, even when is booed by the audience. She is ruda -the bad guys- and will have to fight against the good ones.
Wrestling is a theatrical production, but it also requires physical effort and constant training to perform flights from the ring ropes and to withstand falls, which are often painful.
Wrestling events are a big business. Each week hundreds of tourists and Bolivian attend to see the Cholitas beating their opponents. Cholitas as other fighters belong to different groups handled by managers, who often take advantage and keep most of profits, leaving anything for them. The result is dividing; therefore wrestlers formed new groups such as The Goddesses of Ring, who offer a show in different parts of the city. Bolivian wrestling has become very popular and has crossed borders, thanks to the Cholitas wrestler.
