Cholitas Wrestling

So pretty much what I do when I am thinking on what to write for today, I look at the calendar and see if I can relate lucha libre with the next holiday or whatever. Well, it was Mother's day on Saturday and Sunday (depending where you are from), so,  I've got something just a bit different in today's entry. Still is lucha libre what I am writing about, but it is not related to Mexican lucha libre, it is about Bolivian lucha libre and particularly Bolivian female Wrestling, I am talking about Cholitas lucha libre.

Before I go ahead with the wrestling part, first, let me define (from what I gathered) the "cholita" concept in the Bolivian context: A Cholita is a woman who wears a traditional dress which is la pollera (skirt), hat, enaguas (underskirt), etc, that are common of a social class with specific racial features.

How did the story of the Cholitas in lucha libre begin? Well there are two versions of it. One says, that everything began ten years ago, in La Paz, in the neighborhood of El Alto (considered one of the poorest districts in Bolivia). Apparently a lucha libre veteran ran into a street fight between two cholitas which gathered a lot of audience. He saw potential in this kind of fights, so he started to present shows with the Cholitas Luchadoras in El Coliseo Multifuncional del Alto.

The other version I foundm says that Cholitas Wrestling was created by a group of rural women decades ago to vindicate all the native women from the male sexism. I kind believe more in this statement after watching this trailer for a documentary about the subject.

While someone is kind enough to tell me which statement is true I must say that I am surprised on how popular this show has become. They have presented all over Bolivia and at some point they have left the country to have shows in Peru. Plus, it has become a tourist attraction in La Paz.

But after lets get to the important part of this, how good are the Cholitas as wrestlers?. Considering the fact that there isn't that much history of lucha libre before the Cholitas, they are good wrestlers.

And finally to finish today's entry, I have for you a couple of matche so you can watch the Cholitas in action. I'll see you next week.

Francisco Arreola
@fcoarreola