THE GUIDE - The Rough Guide to Bolivia - page 93

LA CHOLA PACEÑA
One of the most striking images in La Paz is that of the ubiquitous cholas paceñas , the
Aymara and mestiza women dressed in voluminous skirts and bowler hats, who dominate
much of the day-to-day business in the city's endless markets. The word chola ( cholo for
men) was originally a derogatory term used to refer to indigenous women who moved to
the city and adopted the lifestyle of urban mestizos, but now refers more to women who
were born in La Paz ( paceñas ) and are proud of their urban indigenous identity.
The distinctive dress of the chola is derived from seventeenth-century Spanish costumes,
which indigenous women were obliged to copy under colonial rule. The crucial element
of the outfit is the pollera , a layered skirt made from lengths of material up to 5m long,
which are wrapped around the waist and reinforced with numerous petticoats to emphas-
ize the width of the wearer's hips. These skirts can make women appear almost as wide as
they are tall, and represent a glorious celebration of a very distinct ideal of female beauty.
The pollera is worn in combination with knee-high boots, an elaborate lacy blouse, a shawl
wrapped around the shoulders and a felt bowler or derby hat. The bowler hats became
common attire in the 1930s, though the origins of this fashion are somewhat mysterious.
Some say the style was adopted from the hats worn by gringo mining and railway engin-
eers, others that the trend was started by a businessman who erroneously imported a job lot
ofbowlerhatsfromEuropeandstruckontheideaofmarketingthemaswomen'sheadgear.
The chola costume wasoriginally confined tothewealthier mestiza women ofLaPaz, but
has since become widespread amongst Aymara migrants in the city and across the Altipla-
no. The acceptability of the chola as one of the central icons of La Paz and an expression of
pride in indigenous culture was confirmed in 1989, when Remedios Loza became the first
woman to take a seat in the Bolivian Congress dressed in full chola regalia. In the decades
since, not least since Evo Morales came to power in 2005, the colourfully attired chola has
become almost as familiar a political fixture as the traditional drab-suited gent.
Museo del Litoral Boliviano
Jaén 789 • Tues-Fri 9.30am-12.30pm & 3-7pm, Sat & Sun 9am-1pm • Except for the Museo de Instrumentos
Musicales de Bolivia , all the municipal museums are accessed on a single ticket, only sold at the Museo Cos-
tumbrista Juan de Vargas; Bs4
The Museo Litoral is dedicated to one of Bolivia's national obsessions: the loss of its coast-
line to Chile during the nineteenth century War of the Pacific . Unless you share that obses-
sion, however, the collection of old uniforms, photos of the lost ports and maps justifying
Bolivia's claim to the coast is not very inspiring.