A travel vlog (YouTube) by Kara and Nate Buchanan documenting their visit to a cholita wrestling match in El Alto (near La Paz), Bolivia. The episode follows Carnival celebrations (a foam fight), a tour to El Alto (noted as less safe after dark), travel delays (a bus fire), and attendance at a lively, interactive cholita wrestling show with popcorn, Coke, and vouchers. The hosts describe front-row seats, men’s opening acts, competitive cholita matches, audience participation (throwing broccoli), and an abrupt exit and return by tour van. The vlog recommends scheduling visits on Thursdays or Sundays.
Questions this video answers
March 30, 2017
$13
Thursday and Sunday
Chapters
Today's episode is a continuation of yesterday's because we just got done celebrating Carnival with a huge foam fight.
I'm not gonna lie.
I still have foam in my hair.
So we're splitting today's episode into two different episodes because we thought, like, it was too much greatness to put into one. This afternoon, we're doing something I've been weirdly looking forward to for a long time, ever since I read about on, like, some travel blog posts.
I really didn't believe you the first time you told me about it.
We're going to watch a cholita wrestling match. So cholitas are, like the traditional women that you've seen with the boiler hats and the big.
Yeah.
And apparently they wrestle, and they're really good. And recently, like, got accepted into the US wwe. Guess they're legit.
So we're waiting on our tour bus to pick us up now and take us to El Alto.
So the reason we booked a tour is because El Alto is not supposed to be the safest part of the city. It's actually technically a separate city from La Paz, but you're not really supposed to be, like, hanging out there after dark. And the tour was only 13 bucks. Gracias.
All right, he's here.
Sorry it's so loud in here. We finally made it to El Alto after an hour of terrible traffic. We finally passed a bus that it caught on fire. Like, a huge tour bus in the middle of the road. So that's why it took us so long. But we're here now. We have front row seats.
This is what we have to look forward to. Looks like we have two free vouchers to the bathroom and either a snack or souvenir.
Their excitement's making me more excited about what's about to happen. Really hoping the crowds aren't lower because of Carnival. But I think it'll be fun no matter what.
Our tickets included popcorn and Coke. I accidentally made kettle corn. They had sugar over there, and I put it all over our popcor.
Apparently, the men do the opening act. It's pretty good.
Wasn't expecting that.
I'm done with Carnival. I came here to be dry.
So.
It'S much more interactive than I anticipated. Had to bust back out the raincoat just to catch you up. The guy in black won the wrestling match, and now it looks like the girls are starting.
Oh, my God.
It's.
Those First Ladies were crazy.
The first match just ended. That was way better than I could have ever imagined.
They're serious.
Sam.
Dad.
Match number two.
Is over.
We were told to act like we were 7 years old. Pick a person to cheer for. You'd have a lot of fun, and that's so true. Also, people are throwing broccoli on the stage. I don't know why.
Who are we going for this time?
I'm going for the girl in the blue.
I think it's two versus two.
Not sure what's going on. I only see three.
There.
So these men started fighting, and the women came over here to take pictures of them. Honey. So everybody got up, and while everybody was up, they started packing up the chairs. So I'm thinking it's over. But we don't know where the lady is that brought us here, so we don't know how to get home. Really hope we're not stuck in alto. It's scary here.
Gracious.
We found her. She found us.
No, no, no.
I seriously think we almost got left.
She told us to go.
So we just got back to our apartment. Tonight was very interesting. If it seems like it just kind of ended really abruptly and we just left out of nowhere, that's because that's exactly what happened.
We, like, literally looked up, and we were the only white people left in the place.
The guys were still fighting, though, like, on the ground with foam and. Yeah.
And then, thankfully, the lady that picked us up came and rescued us and then shoved us onto a van with a bunch of other tourists. And eventually it dropped us off here.
But it was way more fun than I thought it was gonna be. I didn't know what I was expecting, but you see these little ladies, like, in their hats and their skirts, like, selling their fruit and walking down the street. And then to see them like that, it was like.
The only way I can describe it is this theater. Like, it was totally worth going to. It's. It's definitely something. If you come to La Paz, it only happens on Thursday and Sunday, so schedule your time here so you can make sure you go to it, because it's totally worth it.
