{"id":23309,"date":"2020-11-06T20:04:34","date_gmt":"2020-11-06T19:04:34","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/travesiapirenaica.com\/?p=23309"},"modified":"2021-08-12T18:19:54","modified_gmt":"2021-08-12T16:19:54","slug":"cholitas-climbers","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/travesiapirenaica.com\/en\/cholitas-escaladoras\/","title":{"rendered":"Cholitas climbers' reach the pinnacle of vindication"},"content":{"rendered":"

Lidia Huayllas Estrada and her companions have always been on the heights; however, they were forced to stay on the edge, accompany climbers and mountaineers to a point, make food and be available for their requests.<\/strong>. But Huayllas Estrada wanted to replace the cooker with the summit.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In December 2015, 10 Bolivian women decided to take a stand for themselves<\/strong> They are not afraid of being criticised because they are indigenous or because they are women. Without paying attention to the \"it's impossible\" or \"that's a sport for men\", they climbed the 6,088-metre peak Huayna Potos\u00ed.<\/strong> altitude, located 25 km from La Paz, the capital of Bolivia.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

From that achievement began a story that still remains, these \"cholitas escaladoras\" are a group of women who have decided to climb the highest mountains in Latin America, even, in interviews, they have named the Mount Everest as a future destination<\/strong>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"You have to give it your all. And it's when you reach the limit that you start to discover new things. I didn't even know what I was capable of. You don't have to set limits,\" said Liita, one of the youngest cholitas.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Skirts
Skirts (polleras) and blankets are the most characteristic part of their clothing \/ Photo: @cholitasescaladoras (Instagram)<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

The name of the group comes from \"chola\", a term used to refer to indigenous and mestizo women<\/strong>those who are only made for \"washing and cooking\". This term, sometimes used in a denigrating way, is also closely related to cultural movements in the region, for example, one of the typical characteristics of the cholitas is the use of a typical costume composed, among the basic pieces, by their skirt (pollera), blanket, hat, pin and big earrings. All very handmade.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The cholitas who travel the world<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

When they reached Huayna Potos\u00ed there was no doubt in these women's minds: they were capable of climbing that and all the mountains in the world. After 2015, the Cholitas' group expanded to other mountainous areas.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Their work has been covered by multiple world-renowned media outlets, their message is increasingly reaching people like them who are denigrated or for others who just need a testimony to understand that even the seemingly impossible can be achieved.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This is exactly the subject of the TEDx of SantaCruzdelaSierraWomen <\/strong>titled Want is Power<\/em>. For one of them the dream was to touch the sky and be at the top, a dream that can be fulfilled in mountaineering, to reach the top of a mountain and see the sky up close.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\n