When I was younger, I’ll admit, I was a huge fan of WWF/WWE wrestling. My favorites were Kane and Mankind, and I even went to see a show in Madison Square Garden. I would practice the moves with my brother and friends and had a CD with the theme songs of the most popular wrestlers… yep, that happened!

Over the years my interests changed and I moved away from wrestling… until I went and visited La Paz, Bolivia. I had heard tale of a WWE style wrestling event held there so decided that I would specifically look for it during my most recent trip to Bolivia during Easter weekend, 2016. As soon as I got to my hotel I confirmed that there was a show on that night, made my reservation and set out with absolutely no expectations other than to have a bit of a laugh.

I was met at my hotel by the guide and a bunch of other tourists also going to see the show. We hopped on a seemingly public bus, but it turned out to be only for people going to the show. We drove about 30 minutes to El Alto, the flatland area up and above the fishbowl-like part of town.

The arena, for lack of a better word, was either a school or public basketball court which had a ring, fencing and some chairs put in place… delightfully simple. There were also some lights, some speakers and theme music for all the wrestlers to add to the spectacle.

Pitched as Bolivian women wrestling, the first fight turned out to be a tag team of four guys… there were two referees who goofed around and even got into the wrestling action a bit, but definitely no cholitas. It was fun, to be sure, and a nice reintroduction to wrestling.

From there, the cholitas had their turn. They dressed up is traditional clothes and hats, and really went at it. They were tossing each other around, jumping off the top ropes, and getting the audience involved. The group I was with decided to really get into it, and we had a blast rooting for our favorites.

There were five fights in total and at the end you could take your picture with the cholitas. It was pretty cheap, like $12 maybe, for transport to the site, the show which lasted for a little over an hour, some popcorn and a drink.

It was totally worth the money and time, and I recommend it for anyone looking for a fin, different evening in La Paz.