Bolo-ball

Just as every Guatemalan town has its chuchos, they also have their share of bolos. ‘Bolo’, literally ‘bowling pin’ in Spanish, is the nickname given to drunks for their habit of staggering, sometimes rolling down the street. Whenever I hear English spoken while walking through town, it is certain to be a bolo (how they manage to spit out a foreign language in an intoxicated state amazes me). Sadly, alcoholism is a major problem here in Guatemala and there are at least a dozen or so men in my small town that spend all day, everyday drunk. In and around the park is usually where they pass their time (when not in the adjacent bar), and it is there that I met my now bolo ‘friend’.

My initial encounter with this aforementioned bolo, henceforth to be referred to as Juan (his name has been changed to protect his identity…and because I couldn’t understand him when he told it to me), occurred one late afternoon a couple of weeks ago as I was shooting baskets in the park. Juan shuffled onto the court and immediately took to stealing my ball and shooting it himself. Thoroughly annoyed, I was at the point of going home, when he challenged me to a best two out of three game of one-on-one. Despite his faulty score keeping (he always erred in his favor), complete disregard for the rule of needing to take the ball behind the 3-point line after the other person shoots, and habit of constantly fouling me, I handily beat him in two quick games (I am not bragging here—a blind wheelchair bound 7-year-old could had done the same). The highlight of the game was when he attempted a running hook shot during which he yelled out, “Larry Bird!”. I really think Juan could have a future with the Celtics…if he can just lay off the booze.