Cholita wrestler Natalia Pepita, 19, is held down by fellow fighter in training, Wara, 22, in the ring in El Alto, Bolivia, Thursday, February 7, 2019. A new generation of about 50 athletes are training to a wrestle in traditional billowing skirts, bowler hats and the leather shoes of Aymara women. (Photo by Juan Karita/AP Photo)





Young cholita wrestler Eleonor strikes a fighting pose for a portrait before competing in the ring in El Alto, Bolivia, Sunday, February 10, 2019. “I started wrestling when I was 15 and I love it”, said the 19-year-old wrestler. (Photo by Juan Karita/AP Photo)





Young cholita wrestlers Wara, left, and Natalia Pepita compete in the ring in El Alto, Bolivia, Thursday, February 7, 2019. About 50 young women like Pepita and Wara are training at schools to take up the sport, some at an institution known as Independent Wrestlers of Enormous Risk. (Photo by Juan Karita/AP Photo)





Young cholita wrestler Dona Chevas strikes a pose for a portrait before competing in the ring in El Alto, Bolivia, Sunday, February 10, 2019. A new generation of about 50 young women like Dona Chevas, 16, are training at three schools to take up the sport. (Photo by Juan Karita/AP Photo)





Seen from behind the backstage curtain, young cholita wrestler Dona Chevas, left, fights with fellow trainee Lucero in El Alto, Bolivia, Sunday, February 24, 2019. The shows “assert the role of the Ayamara woman, showing her as enterprising, that she too can take part in a risky sport”, said the city's tourist department Tatiana Monasterios. (Photo by Juan Karita/AP Photo)





Young cholita wrestler Nelly Pankarita jumps over her young rival Eleonor as they compete in the ring in El Alto, Bolivia, Sunday, February 24, 2019. “I love those leaps of Reyna, and it's a dream that she's teaching us”, said 17-year-old Nieves Laura Tarqui, who wrestles as Nelly Pankarita, a last name that means “Little Flower” in Aymara. (Photo by Juan Karita/AP Photo)





Tourists film cholita wrestlers in the ring in El Alto, Bolivia, Monday, January 21, 2019. In recent years fighting cholitas have emerged as a tourist attraction in the sprawling highlands city. (Photo by Juan Karita/AP Photo)





Young cholita wrestler Natalia Pepita, 19, watches through a hole in the curtain backstage during female wrestling competitions in El Alto, Bolivia, Sunday, February 24, 2019. Pepita will compete with veteran fighter, 29-year-old Leydi Huanca, who is also her trainer. (Photo by Juan Karita/AP Photo)





Young cholita wrestler Nelly Pankarita strikes a pose wearing her mask after competing in the ring in El Alto, Bolivia, Sunday, February 10, 2019. The 17-year-old Nieves Laura Tarqui wrestles with the ring name Nelly Pankarita, with Pankarita translating as “Little Flower” in Aymara. (Photo by Juan Karita/AP Photo)





Veteran cholita wrestler Jennifer dos Caras, 45, holds a cement block over teen wrestler Lucero la Bonita in the ring in El Alto, Bolivia, Monday, January 21, 2019. Trainees of cholita wrestling are still a year away from their full professional debuts while competing in matches against established athletes. (Photo by Juan Karita/AP Photo)





Veteran cholita wrestler Leydi Huanca strikes a fighting pose for a portrait before entering the ring in El Alto, Bolivia, Sunday, February 10, 2019. “The girls who want to do this sport have to have guts, will, because this is a sport that demands a lot of discipline”, said Leydi Huanca, 29, whose real name is Reyna Torrez. (Photo by Juan Karita/AP Photo)





Cholita wrestler Natalia la Pepita, 19, lifts her trainer Reyna Torrez, 29, as they compete in the ring in El Alto, Bolivia, Monday, January 21, 2019. “You need a lot of bravery, strength and training to make a good fight. We fall and we hurt, but that doesn't matter because the public has fun”, said fighter in training Natalia Pepita, whose real name is Noelia Gonzalez. (Photo by Juan Karita/AP Photo)





Young cholita wrestler Dona Chevas, 16, top, holds the legs of her rival, fellow trainee Simpatica Sonia, 24, as they compete in the ring in El Alto, Bolivia, Thursday, January 21, 2019. A new generation of athletes is coming to one of the world's more colorful sporting spectacles: the fighting cholitas of Bolivia, who take to a wrestling ring in the traditional billowing skirts, bowler hats and leather shoes of Aymara women. (Photo by Juan Karita/AP Photo)





Veteran cholita wrestler Leydi Huanca, 29, dances as she enters the ring area to compete in El Alto, Bolivia, Sunday, February 10, 2019. As a match is about to start, cholita wrestlers apply makeup and perfume and then enter to ring dancing to folkloric music. (Photo by Juan Karita/AP Photo)





Reyna Torrez, a veteran cholita wrestler who uses the ring name Leydi Huanca, carries her daughter Lydia after an interview at her home in El Alto, Bolivia, Monday, February 18, 2019. Torrez, 29, is teaching a new generation of female wrestlers as her generation of fighters gradually dwindled to just seven. (Photo by Juan Karita/AP Photo)





Young cholita wrestler Lucero la Bonita strikes a pose for a portrait before fighting in the ring in El Alto, Bolivia, Sunday, February 10, 2019. “I love to promote the culture of my country”, said the 16-year-old fighter, one of 50 from a new generation of cholita fighters in training. (Photo by Juan Karita/AP Photo)





Veteran cholita wrestler Reyna Torrez stands in the corner of the ring as she competes with teen fighter Dona Chevas in El Alto, Bolivia, Sunday, February 10, 2019. Now 29, Torrez is training a new cohort of wrestlers, aged 16 to 19, in hopes of keeping the sport alive. (Photo by Juan Karita/AP Photo)





Young cholita wrestler Wara puts her makeup on before competing in the ring in El Alto, Bolivia, Sunday, February 24, 2019. Wara, 22, and the other trainees are still a year away from their full professional debuts while training in matches against the established athletes. (Photo by Juan Karita/AP Photo)





Veteran cholita wrestler Jennifer Dos Caras, 45, competes in the ring with Randy Four in El Alto, Bolivia, January 21, 2019. The sport, known by the English-derived name catchascan, has delighted foreign tourists and photographers for years while building a sense of pride among indigenous women. (Photo by Juan Karita/AP Photo)





Veteran cholita wrestler Reyna Torrez is reflected in a mirror next to a poster of Mexican professional wrestler Rey Mysterio during an interview at her home in El Alto, Bolivia, Monday, February 18, 2019. Torrez, who competes in the ring as Leydi Huanca, is among the most famous cholita wrestlers who has entertained spectators for a dozen years. (Photo by Juan Karita/AP Photo)





A tourist takes a selfie with cholita wrestlers after they competed in the ring in El Alto, Bolivia, Thursday, February 7, 2019. The sport, known by the English-derived name catchascan, has delighted foreign tourists and photographers for years while building a sense of pride among indigenous women. (Photo by Juan Karita/AP Photo)