La Esperanza proudly touts the title “the bolo capital of Honduras” (bolo en ingles: piss-assed drunk man.) As you might imagine, this combined with Honduras recently named the most dangerous country in Latin America, I feel pretty bad-ass. I’ve seen one bola (drunk woman) in my year here, women generally don’t drink. Bolos are also generally poor yet who choose too spend their little money on alcohol, rather than their families. But anyhow, let me take you on a field trip of the mind so you for yourself can understand how La Esperanza has earned such a respectful title.
La Esperanza is the capital of Intibucá and is more or less the only town in the department that is not dry (sell or consumption of alcohol prohibited). Picture yourself on a Sunday morning in this chilly city amidst the buzzing local indigenous culture, out-of-town day trippers, and a few foreign visitors here and there. As always there is a feel of oppression about which exists on a greater level and is something I can't explain or understand. Pickups full of people from the campo are piling into the capital city to pile up on goods before midday when all will shut down. There’s a hunger for something in the air…you feel it first and then you spot them; nicely tucked neon colored shirts, beady darting eyes, salivating…for something. They dash into the side street shops and as swiftly as they entered they exit, bag in hand. Guaro, sweet guaro, precious nectar you are all mine! O Liter of salvation to which I shall devote my weekly earnings... Actually guaro is awful, it’s very strong (but cheap!) grain alcohol which requires numbed oral sensation to swallow and need we mention delivers terrible hangovers.
But now fast forward 1-2 hours: you drift along the now less crowded, almost empty streets of Intibucá’s capital. Be sure to glimpse the ground in front of you ever so often to be sure to step over the passed-out bolo in your path – careful not to trip. Dwell not at any street corner for too long to avoid wear-inspiring bolo banter. And beware of flying bolos being dispatched from the beds of passing pickups. Extra caution for flying bolo excrement. But don’t let it get you down, it’s not all bad, you sometimes get lucky and find yourself witness to most excellent bolo behavior like two bolos making-out or a profound conversation between a bolo and an inanimate object (I saw a trash can once). Yessirree it is definitely Super Bolo Sunday.
La Esperanza is the capital of Intibucá and is more or less the only town in the department that is not dry (sell or consumption of alcohol prohibited). Picture yourself on a Sunday morning in this chilly city amidst the buzzing local indigenous culture, out-of-town day trippers, and a few foreign visitors here and there. As always there is a feel of oppression about which exists on a greater level and is something I can't explain or understand. Pickups full of people from the campo are piling into the capital city to pile up on goods before midday when all will shut down. There’s a hunger for something in the air…you feel it first and then you spot them; nicely tucked neon colored shirts, beady darting eyes, salivating…for something. They dash into the side street shops and as swiftly as they entered they exit, bag in hand. Guaro, sweet guaro, precious nectar you are all mine! O Liter of salvation to which I shall devote my weekly earnings... Actually guaro is awful, it’s very strong (but cheap!) grain alcohol which requires numbed oral sensation to swallow and need we mention delivers terrible hangovers.
But now fast forward 1-2 hours: you drift along the now less crowded, almost empty streets of Intibucá’s capital. Be sure to glimpse the ground in front of you ever so often to be sure to step over the passed-out bolo in your path – careful not to trip. Dwell not at any street corner for too long to avoid wear-inspiring bolo banter. And beware of flying bolos being dispatched from the beds of passing pickups. Extra caution for flying bolo excrement. But don’t let it get you down, it’s not all bad, you sometimes get lucky and find yourself witness to most excellent bolo behavior like two bolos making-out or a profound conversation between a bolo and an inanimate object (I saw a trash can once). Yessirree it is definitely Super Bolo Sunday.
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