The Cholita Wrestling

I got to La Paz bus station around 6am. I needed the loo as soon as I got off the bus. I frantically searched around the bus station and eventually found one. You need to pay for the privilege of using the toilets here in South America. A wee lady sits outside spending her time splitting a roll of toilet paper up into "manageable" amounts of sheets. She then gives you one of the mounds after taking your money.

Then I found an internet cafe and booked the Wild Rover hostel. I stayed in a wild rover in Arequipe in Peru so knew what to expect. I got there but was too early to check in so chilled out in the communal area till 12 reading. The hostel has it's own tour agency so after talking to the lady, have booked paragliding for tomorrow and the pampa tour in Rurrenabaque for Thu. She also mentioned there was "Cholita" wrestling today at 4pm. Local indigenous women! Interesting I thought. So booked that too!

It got to 4pm and loads of us from the hostel were picked up and taken to the venue. We were given a ticket which allowed us to skip passed all the locals in the queue to front row seats. The ticket also allowed us two uses of the bathroom (after which you needed to pay), a snack (popcorn and coke), and a souvenier (a teeny tiny lady wrestler). We all chatted and wondered what on earth it was going to be like. I couldn't help but feel it was all a bit wrong, but fascinating, in the same way one would go to a circus to see bearded ladies or dancing bears. I wasn't alone thinking this.

Omg the whole show was hilarious! From start to finish! First 4 men came out. 2 big guys and 2 wee guys, and spongebob (!). The big guys started beating up the wee guys (and spongebob) and then it all turned round so that the wee guys won and the whole audience erupted with cheers and whistles! The only thing I didn't like AT ALL was the fact that all the local people brought their kids with them and how do you explain wrestling (which looks pretty real even to the best of us) to them - and the beating up spongebob thing? Nope. Didn't like that part one bit. Having said that, the kids were really getting into it all in real pantomime fashion and even running after the "heros" for autographs when they beat the bad guys!

Anyway then came the women. They came out one by one all dressed up in their traditional dress, skipping and dancing, twirling and parading in front of us all like ladies. Then they would take off their hats, shawls and earrings and turn into monsters, jumping around on the stage, making animal noises and generally being pretty scary! Again there were 2 macho ones and 2 slighter girls, who didn't look older than 16! I was very impressed and wondered how much rehearsing they all had to do to pull this off. There were some pretty complicated moves!

2 hours of the same thing later and I'd definitely seen enough. It was brilliant but just too long and very samey. Apart from the crescendo when ALL the men appeared in various costumes and painted faces and the fights ended up out of the ring and all over the arena thing. A bit too close to me for comfort to be honest!

We all got back on the bus with smiles on our faces. I sat next to a guy called Gareth the same age as me, and he went on about how he can still party with all the young guys every night, and bigged himself up about the 2 properties he owns and how much budget he has given himself (£2000 per month) travelling. Yeah very nice. No wonder people your own age aren't interested mate. See ya!

I ate, had a GnT and went to bed, leaving all the youngsters (and Gareth) to party.