A fantastic story from the NY Times’s Juan Forero:
EL ALTO, Bolivia – In her red multilayered skirt, white pumps and gold-laced shawl, the traditional dress of the Aymara people, Ana Polonia Choque might well be preparing for a night of folk dancing or, perhaps, a religious festival.
But as Carmen Rosa, master of the ring and winner of 100 bone-crunching bouts in Bolivia’s colorful wrestling circuit, she is actually dressing for a night of mayhem.
With loyal fans screaming out her name, she climbs the corner ropes high above the ring, bounces once for momentum and flies high, arms outstretched for maximum effect. To the crowd’s delight, the dive flattens her adversary, María Remedios Condori, better known as Julia la Paceña (Julia from La Paz).
This, ladies and gentlemen, is “lucha libre,” Bolivia’s version of the wacky, tacky wrestling extravaganzas better known as World Wrestling Entertainment in the United States and Triple A in Mexico, which serve as a loose model. But there are no light shows, packed arenas or million-dollar showmen.
Most unbelievable passage:
“The cradle of freestyle wrestling is Mexico because that’s where the best fighters were – Hurricane Ramírez, the Jalisco Lightning, the Blue Demon,” explained Juan Carlos Chávez, promoter of the Titans.
But now, he says proudly, Bolivia has its own stable of wrestlers who tussle in choreographed matches. And Bolivian organizers have introduced the innovation of fighting Cholitas, the indigenous women who wear bowler hats and multilayered skirts.
“I wanted to get people’s attention and fill up the coliseum,” said Juan Mamani, 46, the president of the Titans and a wrestler himself. “At first, I thought of fighting dwarves. I even brought in one from Peru. Then I thought of Cholitas. It’s been popular ever since.”
Incredulous emphasis mine. God help us if Juan ever discovers midget cholitas.
One reply on “Lucha Libre, Bolivian Cholita-Style”
I went to the lucha libre in La Paz a couple months ago and there was indeed a dwarf cholita flying off the ropes. At the same time the crowd was full of cholitas and other locals heckling and throwing open bottles of coca-cola, popcorn, chicken bones etc. at the combatants. It’s good, clean family fun on a Sunday in El Alto.