FOLLOW ME HERE
nell haynes
  • home
  • publications
  • projects
  • fieldnotes
  • teaching
  • contact
  • espaƱol

training pt 2, the secret

18/3/2012

0 Comments

 
Most wrestlers learn to wrestle in a gym. They may start on mats on the ground, and eventually work their way into the ring. I learned on a mountainside overlooking the Sopocachi neighborhood of La Paz. At just under 4000 meters below sea level, even breathing is sometimes a feat.

To add to my corporeal distress, the day I began training I arrived with a large dog bite on my right leg, and a left bicep that was puffy and red from rabies vaccines.

We started with sprints back and forth. I had been in La Paz 3 weeks, but my lungs were still not ready. My legs were fine, but I felt a burning in my chest. I rested what seemed like a good amount. The burning persisted. I did more sprints, and the burning remained. I was a little dizzy. And then we moved on to summersaults.

After the vueltas (summersaults) I moved on to the mariposa (butterfly). I watched Daniel do it a few times, and then it was my turn. It looked complicated. I worried I’d fall on my head. I worried Oscar would drop me. I worried I’d look like an idiot. But there’s only one way to learn and that’s to run up, put your hand on his leg and throw your body over. So I did.

“Bien!”

And I tried it again

“Eso!”

Hm. This isn’t as hard as I thought.

Picture
tijeras

That first training session, I learned how to fall, I learned the mariposa, tijeras, and the casadora. And I learned the most important secret of lucha libre: not whether it is real or fake, not whether it is choreographed or improvised, not  whether winners are real or pre-determined, not even whether the pain is real or exaggerated. But I learned that despite the pain, it is fun. And people do it because its fun. And people enjoy watching it because its fun. And people build their lives around it, and are passionate about it, and love it because its fun. 
0 Comments

Your comment will be posted after it is approved.


Leave a Reply.


    themes

    All
    Aesthetics
    Authenticity
    Body
    Bolivia
    Chile
    Chola
    Class
    Disaster
    Drugs
    Food Studies
    Gender
    Globalization
    Indigeneity
    Inequality
    Lucha Libre
    Methods
    Migration
    Neoliberalism
    Performance
    Politics
    Protest
    Social Media
    Sport
    Tattoo
    Tourism
    United States
    Violence

    archives

    August 2022
    July 2020
    November 2019
    October 2019
    July 2018
    May 2018
    April 2018
    October 2017
    September 2017
    July 2017
    March 2017
    February 2017
    December 2016
    September 2016
    August 2016
    May 2016
    August 2015
    July 2015
    June 2015
    May 2015
    March 2015
    February 2015
    January 2015
    December 2014
    November 2014
    October 2014
    September 2014
    August 2014
    July 2014
    June 2014
    May 2014
    April 2014
    March 2014
    February 2014
    January 2014
    December 2013
    November 2013
    October 2013
    September 2013
    August 2013
    July 2013
    June 2013
    March 2013
    January 2013
    December 2012
    November 2012
    October 2012
    September 2012
    August 2012
    June 2012
    May 2012
    April 2012
    March 2012
    February 2012
    January 2012
    December 2011
    November 2011
    October 2011
    September 2011
    July 2011
    June 2011
    May 2011
    April 2011
    August 2009
    July 2009

    RSS Feed

Powered by Create your own unique website with customizable templates.