It’s rare to see long skirts and stockings in a wrestling ring… Except in Bolivia, where American Indian women don their best traditional dress for fights. But don’t be fooled into thinking this makes them any less fierce.
Every Sunday in a vast public gym in El Alto, 4,150 metres above sea level, a dozen female wrestlers turn up to fight. Of indigenous Ayamara origin, the women wear the traditional skirt, bloomers, plait and hat to enter the ring. The locals call the fights “the highest wrestling matches in the world.”
Foreign tourists pay a high price to watch the show compared to locals but if you can afford it why not take a look. Tours from La Paz usually include transportation, entrance, snack, a small souvenir, and ringside seating.