Lets talk about alcohol and El Salvador…shall we? There is only one mindset about drinking in El Salvador, at least here in the campo anyway. If you are seen drinking, you are obviously drunk. If you are drunk, you must be that way all the time, there for a beer with dinner would make you an alcoholic, or as they say a “bolo.” This rule applies to everyone accept to yourself, of course.

In reality, there are all different types of drinkers in El Salvador. The realm spans from non-drinkers to the binge-drinking alcoholic. The social drinker that occasionally has a one or two week bender would fall somewhere in the middle. However, because of the aforementioned stereotypes surrounding drinking, much of this part of the culture is very hush hush.

Now that I have given you the basic run down on drinking in El Sal I want to talk about the true honest to goodness “bolo.” These are the ones that have drank themselves into a permanent stupor and are so far gone they probably can’t even remember their full name. There are all different types of bolos; angry bolos, sleepy bolos, happy bolos, begging bolos… just to name a few. I think the type of bolo depends one their current situation, which revolves around one thing…when was their last drink.
While bolos come in many different shapes and sizes I would describe the average bolo as follows. They enjoy sleeping near and or on the road. Shoes, shirt and teeth are optional. Belts? Who needs em, most use rope in their place. There are never to proud to beg, usually asking for a quarter. Encountering a gringo may very well be the highlight of their day. I’m not sure what or if they eat. Their ears and noses are often bloodied from passing out on concrete. They urinate in public, but then again so do most Salvadoran men. They smell worse than anything you can imagine. I would guess that they range in age from 25-60. They absolutely love to interrupt any sort of meeting you may be in. Like most Salvadoran men they often wield machetes, however are often physically to incapable to present any real danger with it.The following is a picture from a training session we had last July that was interrupted by the young man who is seen sleeping in the photo. His attendance caused quite a stir in the meeting. However, the commotion didn’t last long, as he fell asleep shortly after taking his seat.

While sometimes providing very humorous circumstances the bolo situation is actually quite tragic. I have no idea the life span of a bolo, but I can’t imagine it to be very long after entering the permanent drunk stage. A volunteer friend of mine witnessed one of his local bolos puking up blood in the road, then watched his funeral procession pass the same spot two days later. One can only imagine the physical toll that it must take on a person’s body as well as the emotional toll is has on friends and family.

I don’t really have any definite reason as to why someone becomes a bolo. Like most social problems, I assume it can be chalked up to the often tragic circumstances of living in an impoverished and underdeveloped country. 

So if you are ever passing through El Salvador and you see a shoeless and bloody eared man laying in the run-off water on the side of the road and you find yourself asking “is this normal?” the answer is yes, unfortunately.

-Ross

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