Female Bolivian Skateboarders Shred in Traditional Dress

Brazilian photographer Luisa Dörr travelled to Bolivia and photographed the members of ImillaSkate, a group of Aymara and Quechua women who skateboard, often in traditional cholita clothing. From a slideshow of photos by Dörr in El Pais (translated from Spanish by Google):

I traveled to Cochabamba in September and was struck by the strong prejudice that exists in Bolivian society against indigenous people. There are medical cholitas or lawyers there who radically change their way of dressing if they go to the city and you hardly see young cholitas. It is a culture that is being lost. However, these women, beyond emboldening girls with sport, show their pride in being cholitas.

Here’s a short documentary about ImillaSkate with English subtitles and you can follow more of Dörr’s work on Instagram. See also the Girls of Guanabara.

• Bolivia
• ImillaSkate
• Luisa Dorr
• photography
• skateboarding
• sports

The Milky Way Reflected in the World’s Largest Mirror

I love this photograph by Peruvian photographer Jheison Huerta. It’s a shot of the Milky Way above the Salar de Uyuni salt flat in Bolivia. After it rains, the thin layer of water transforms the flat into the world’s largest mirror, some 80 miles across. Beautiful.

See also The Entire Plane of the Milky Way Captured in a Single Photo. (via astronomy picture of the day)

• astronomy
• Bolivia
• Jheison Huerta
• photography

Bolivia’s wheelchair riots

A group of disabled activists travelled 560 miles to La Paz, Bolivia to demand state benefits and protest discrimination. They were met by riot police.

• Bolivia

I’ll have a rum and Coke and coke

Route 36 is a cocaine bar located in La Paz, Bolivia and is understandably popular.

The waiter arrives at the table, lowers the tray and places an empty black CD case in the middle of the table. Next to the CD case are two straws and two little black packets. He is so casual he might as well be delivering a sandwich and fries. […] Behind the bar, he goes back to casually slicing straws into neat 8cm lengths.

• Bolivia
• cocaine
• drugs