Four Indigenous women from Bolivia are hoping to become the first cholitas to climb Mount Everest.
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00:00 Layered billowing skirts are rare on the side of a mountain.
00:07 Before these four women, scaling Huayna Potosi, a popular climb outside of Bolivia's capital city, La Paz,
00:14 conquering the peaks in their traditional pollera skirts is business as usual.
00:19 They have tackled some of the toughest peaks in South America.
00:23 Limani, Zahama, Parinacota, Cotango, and Congoriri, all the mountains here in Bolivia.
00:31 Now their eyes are set on the tallest peak of all, Mount Everest.
00:35 I want to be the first women in the pollera skirts to reach the summit of Everest
00:43 because I want to flame our pollera and the Bolivian flag.
00:50 The women are part of Bolivia's indigenous Aymara and Quechua communities, referred to as cholitas.
00:57 They are easily recognized by their pollera skirts, braided hair, and bowler hats,
01:02 and up until very recently were socially ostracized and marginalized in their own country.
01:08 Swapping their hats for helmets, the women work as mountain guides around La Paz,
01:15 the highest capital city on the planet, at close to 4,000 meters above sea level.
01:21 And they are confident in their abilities.
01:24 I had to carry about 28 kilos of mules' clothing up to the top of the hill.
01:30 I had to carry all of this.
01:33 I was walking calmly, so I thought, I'm not going to carry myself, I'm going to carry oxygen.
01:41 Aside from the climbing challenge, they also hope to connect with the Sherpas around Mount Everest.
01:47 The cholitas say they feel a special connection with them.
01:51 I say, I would like to meet the Sherpas and tell them our stories, our anecdotes about the mountains.
02:01 I always say, how much I would like to meet their animals, for example the Chaco.
02:11 I would like to meet them, and I see that the Sherpas are almost like us.
02:20 The four women are training hard and hoping for financial backing,
02:25 so they can achieve their dream as the first cholitas to summit Mount Everest.
02:30 This is Wu and Harrell Hughes for Taiwan Plus.
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