Cholitas Bravas: Part II
My Cholita Bravas series consists of 3 parts. 1. Cholitas Luchadoras (Wrestling cholitas) 2. Cholitas Escaladoras (Hiking Cholitas) 3. Cholitas Skaters. Today, I’m bringing you the Cholitas Escaladoras. Here’s a little story behind the photos.
This trip was an act of love and A LOT of faith. After bouncing from contact to contact, I was happy to finally find a direct contact to one of the hiking Cholitas. Even though, our interactions were short, we agreed to make the photoshoot happen.
When I got to Bolivia, I texted her with no answer. I continued my stay hoping for an answer the next day. I didn’t get a response, so I called and texted again. Still, no answer. I thought to myself, “Not photographing the Escaladoras would suck big time, because they’re one of the main reasons I’m here. But, worst case scenario, I get one more day to explore Bolivia and that’s not bad at all”. I was trying to be positive but deep down, I was getting a little sad.
That afternoon, I get a text from a strange number. It was the husband of my contact. He told me that his wife was traveling and couldn’t text me back. She was promoting her documentary of the Hiking Cholitas. What a badass, I thought. He also told me that I wasn’t going to be able to photograph his wife because she was away all week (ouch!) but I would get to photograph the younger generation of hiking girls. (PHEW!! Thank you, universe!)
We met at one of El Alto’s viewpoint. The view was beautiful but it was fully gated, getting in the way of my shots. A main road was behind us but thankfully, there was a small spot on the left side where I could shoot without the gate. Also, there was a BIG dark cloud approaching and it was sprinkling a little bit. Someone told me once, that if you blow to the sky when your birthday is approaching, you’d have the power to stop the rain. My birthday was approaching, so I blew hard towards the sky with the hope it would give me some time to shoot. It stopped sprinkling and it was go time! Hallelujah!
I got into shoot mode and I happily captured these young hikers, including Juamely, the youngest hiking girl. She’s only 5 years old and loves to hike with her mother on Sundays. The hikers were shy in front of my camera, most of my subjects get shy. It didn’t take away from the power that I saw in them. I’m usually a quick shooter, but this time I pushed myself to be even faster. I didn’t want to push my luck! And good thing I did, because it started pouring right after my last shot.
I hope you enjoy this special project of mine.
