Bolos

Took this picture today and thought I'd write a little something about it for the blog. In Honduras, this guy is what we call a "Bolo:"



Now if you look up bolo in the spanish-english dictionary, I'm not sure if it would be there. And if you could find it, I'm not sure if it would accurately describe what a bolo truly is. Simply "a drunk" would not suffice.


Bolos are guys (although there a few bolas out there) who get so wasted drunk (usually off guaro which is aguardiente, a kind of moonshine) that they become totally incapacitated to the point where the pass out in the street. They lie there, bodies contorted, and dirty as hell. Sometimes they twitch, or will have a sudden movement of some kind. This guy, as we were walking past him, held up his two empty beer cans and mumbled something unintelligible. Before they pass out they can be seen hobbling around, usually yelling something at somebody (and gringos are especially fun to yell at), but they are on the whole a harmless group since they can hardly walk much less do anything else to harm you. A simple push in the chest would totally knock one over.


The thing that is the most interesting to me is how accepted bolos are here. People walk by, hardly giving a glance. And this from a people who generally look down on drinking (and you can imagine why if all you see is these guys and think that this is what happens to you when you drink). Its both kind of amusing and kind of sad.

The saddest thing is that (I'm told) these guys will often blow a weeks pay on their boozing, with nothing to show for it but a day spent in the streets and hungry family members. Sundays (like today) are the biggest bolo turnout days, with way more in the streets than on other days.

I just thought it would be an interesting thing to talk about, since bolos, at least in this capacity and number, just don't exist back home. You might see a homeless dude passed out with a brown paper sack but you won't see it this way, with this number of people, and with people who otherwise might be working very hard during the week and seem normal. Maybe its the boredom of the weekend, maybe its the desperation and poverty they deal with (and an easy escape) or maybe its just guys being jackasses and making a bad situation worse (i.e. spending a weeks pay when you have so little to begin with). Or maybe its all those things and things I can't possibly understand because I am not them.

Dengue/Robbery Follow Up

Here are a few follow up photos from the bad luck events I wrote about last time. Things are better (time has a way of doing that) and we've been working at making things "right" again after the break in.

Here are a few pics from dengue fever:

Sick in bed:




Our friend Glenda came over with some Honduran chicken soup and some home remedies. One of her remedies included putting raw sliced onions in Javi's sock.




Javi was enjoying the home remedies:


Glenda and her husband were really sweet. They even cleaned up the whole kitchen for us, since we were in no state for doing chores. We were barely to pour a glass of water or heat up some oatmeal.

Here is the house with barbed wire we had installed since the robbery:




We sort of feel like we are living in prison. Its definitely not pretty, but LOTS of homes have it around here. We knew why before, but now we personally know why. Unfortunately security, and especially getting stuff stolen from you, is a real problem. We know vocational students at the Escuela Taller who have SO little, and they've had stuff stolen from them too, like cell phones and such, and that from people have have nothing.

This picture is a lucky one I snapped off while shooting the barbed wire. We see this cart (or ones like it) coming down our street sometimes. We live in a nice part of town on a sort of "suburban" street. Its just a reminder that although Honduras can seemed pretty developed sometimes, ox-driven carts still cruise around town and down residential streets.


We had a crappy streak there for awhile but these types of things can happen anywhere...getting sick and getting robbed.....so we are not blaming it on Honduras and just getting on with things!