Lewis the Lion with his entrance ticket
If you want to experience some slap-stick comedy and have an evening of family-fun, then the Bolivian wrestling is the place to be. Lewis the Lion yet again was one lucky lion as he happened to be in La Paz on a Sunday evening, the one night in the week when there was the famous Cholitas Cachasanistas Wrestling.
The arena El Alto is high above the city of La Paz
This is wrestling a bit like W.W.F. or W.W.E but it also includes women – the Cholitas- who wear traditional Bolivian dress with big, layered skirts who take on both other women and men. Boy, did Lewis the Lion think they were hard: you wouldn’t want to mess with them!
These cholitas are as tough as nails!
However, it wasn’t just the Cholitas, this was wrestling with different characters, los Titanes del Ring – Titans of the Ring.
Lewis the Lion stands outside the arena El Alto
Lewis can see the characters’ names around the ring-side
These characters included both goodies and badies and some of them that Lewis the Lion saw were:
The goodies
Alicia Flores: a petite framed Cholita with a bit of umph!
Alicia Flores arrives with a song!
Jitano: a sprightly, acrobatic whizz
Magnifico: masked and muscly
Magnifico – masked warrior
Skeleton Man: a bony, wiry acrobat
The Skeleton dances a funny, jerky dance
Carmen Rosa: virtuous and oh so strong!
Lewis sees Carmen Rosa arrive triumphantly
The baddies
Jenifer 2 Caras: the hardest and meanest Cholita
Alicia Flores versus Jenifer 2 Caras
Mr Romiro: a hulk of an umpire but often biased towards his baddy friends
The baddies laugh an evil laugh together
Comando: full of slick army tricks with his little Comando friend
The comando at work with his friends
Hombre Lobo: a wolf-man
Hombre Lobo – Wolf man
The Clown: creepy and full of mean tricks
The Clown dominates the Skeleton
As well as the wrestling itself, Lewis the Lion enjoyed watching the crowds as much as anything else.
The audience are enthralled by the evening’s entertainment
The audience enjoy seeing the wrestlers arriving in the ring
Lewis notices the local audience sitting right back!
Obviously the locals knew a trick or two as they were seated well-back from the ring itself whereas the tourists were sat up close.
The tourists sit close to the ring-side
Oh dear! Little did they know that a lot of the action didn’t take place just in the ring itself but around the periphery and there were times when the wrestlers would tumble into the audience’s seats or water or foam would be sprayed over the unsuspecting crowd!
The fighting takes place right in front of Lewis the Lion!
Crack! Bang! Whollop!
You can see that Helen’s trousers got wet in one particular episode:
Helen’s trousers got splashed with all the antics!
When Lewis arrived outside the venue, he could see that this was a real chance for people to come together socially, as there were even several table-football games set up.
Tabke-football outside the wrestling arena
He then queued not only to get in but to receive his free bag of pop-corn and a drink, which certainly helped to put him in the party mood. Sat beside him and Helen were two young men: Tom from England and Vincent from France. They were also visiting La Paz and had come to watch the wrestling for the first time, not knowing quite what to expect. But what was for sure is that they had a good laugh during the evening’s entertainment! Click here to hear Lewis the Lion’s laugh.
There was then a boom on the microphone from the commentator while the music started up for the entrance of the first competitors in the ring. The wrestling involved many mean tricks and dirty tactics by the competitors,
Sellotaping the Cholita to the ring!
for example, at times there would be two or even three wrestlers ganging up on each other, all attacking one person at once.
The three baddies gather around
It was clear pantomime though with goodies and baddies, with the goodies usually ending up victorious in the end. Lewis the Lion laughed his hearty laugh as the wrestlers climbed the frame of the ring and slam-dunked on top of each other: these wrestlers were acrobats as much as anything else.
One Cholita climbs the ropes…getting ready to jump!
He loved seeing the smiles and hearing the laughter of the crowd when the wrestlers did particularly funny things, e.g. the Skeleton did a strange wibbly-wobbly dance before welcoming his competitor into the ring.
Lewis loves the Skeleton’s dance moves
Here are some short clips of the Cholitas Wrestling so you can get a flavour of what Lewis the Lion saw: Clip One and Clip Two.
Looking at Clip Two, what do you think happened next? Tell your friend or write the story ending!
All in all, Lewis the Lion enjoyed a fantastic night of entertainment. Here are some more photos to give you a flavour of the night.
The wrestlers climb the ropes to greet the crowds
Wrestlers in full action
The goodies seek revenge!
The Cholitas take control
The baddies start on each other!
The rough and tumble inside the ring
Lewis sees the wrestlers close by
If you were a character in the wrestling ring, what character would you like to be?
What name would you give yourself?
What costume would you like to wear? Describe it.
