Grasping her hiking pole and pumping her arm in victory, Lidia Huayllas celebrates as snow swirls past the tears on her cheeks. She and her fellow cholitas, Liita Gonzales, Dora Magueño, Elena Quispe, and Cecilia Llusco, have summited the highest peak in America. Located in Argentina’s Mendoza province, Aconcagua lies 6,961 meters above sea level (22,837.93 feet). “We have been discriminated against for being Aimara, and for being women,” Huayllas says in the film Cholitas. “Here, women are always cooking or washing. But women can also climb.”
Once high mountain cooks, the women wanted to experience mountaineering for themselves. Banding together, they formed a climbing group and took to the high peaks of the Andes, bagging Huayna Potosí, Acotango, Sajama, to name a few. Their dress is typical of indigenous Aymara and Quechua women, including a pollera (pleated skirt), two long braids, and a colorful shawl, which they wear alongside mountaineering boots, crampons, and helmets.
Before the election of Evo Morales, Bolivia’s first indigenous president, cholitas faced discrimination and were often refused service by public transport, taxis, or restaurants. In recent decades, grassroots movements in the country have led to cholitas becoming an integral part of Bolivia’s national identity. This film, documenting the women’s ascent of Aconcagua, speaks to a broader movement for Bolivia’s women. “Now I feel free,” says Huayllas. “Free to do what I want to do.”
To learn more about the film, visit cholitasfilm.com/en.
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