Created with Admarket’s flickrSLiDR.
Las Cholitas Luchadores, or the Fighting Cholitas, are a WWE style wrestling organization that operates in a small stadium in El Alto, about 25 minutes from the center of La Paz. In the approximately two and a half hour “show” you’ll see half a dozen matches between men and between women and men. The men’s costumes are outlandish, while the women perform in traditional Andean dress. In a world where Andean women have traditionally had fewer opportunities than men, in these wrestling matches they become the crowd favorites and heroes to the local community in El Alto. It’s a symbolic fight that has as much cultural relevance as La Diablada in Oruro.

The fights occur every Sunday afternoon and a tour agency in La Paz, Andean Secrets (www.cholitaswrestling.com) has been providing tours that include transportation, entrance, snack, a small souvenir, and ringside seating for 80 Bolivianos.