Cholitas Bonitas!

Leaving to the parade - in our space miracle

On Monday the 23 of September which is the Tiquipaya day (El día de Tiquipaya) the girls and tías from Corazon Grande joined the city-parade, and of course Julia and I were there as well. Unlike the girls and tías who where dressed in green Corazon Grande t-shirts, someone persuaded us to dress as Cholitas, and so we did. Cholitas are so called "native-women" that belong either to the Ayamara or Quechua tribe. They both have their own language and wear traditional clothes that represent their culture. The typical Cholita clothes actually originates from the time Bolivia was a Spanish colony, as the Spaniards forbade the natives to wear typical native-clothing, and instead presented the clothing the Ayamara and Quechua tribes still wear today. 

To honor the native cultures and the city of Cochabamba we; Julia, I and two of our youngest girls dressed in sky-blue and lavender colored Cholita outfits. The color depends on the area you come from and as the color of Cochabamba flag is sky-blue also the outfits were. I have to say - not exactly my favorite color. A part of the style is also to wear two braids, a white sombrero and bright red lipstick. Haha you can imagine how I enjoyed that lipstick! (Which I "by mistake" rubbed of before we even got to the parade :D)

A picture bought from a photographer at the parade

You can also imagine how often the people of Tiquipaya see blond Cholitas, and the amount of attention we got. People were applauding, whistling and shouting "Bravo bravo!" as we passed by the audience. We were in the front row of our group so we walked right behind the Corazon Grande flag. The highlight of the parade was when we got the the main square where the mayor and other important people were watching the parade. Cool and confident we marched by and waved to the mayor who didn't hide how excited he was of our effort. After parading we stayed to watch other groups but sometimes we felt the groups who were parading were watching us more. Though I have to say the best part was to get compliments from "real" Cholitas, and trust me they didn't spare their kind words!