Somewhere in the third world, Isaiah is on a four-day bender.

Typically, revelers realize they were on a bender once they regain consciousness in agony; sober, penniless and suffering mysterious injuries. Not Isaiah. He is a deliberate and intelligent man.

He has six days off work – a very responsible job in education administration. He has scheduled four days of binging and two days of recovery. On Monday he will be back at work, shaven, sensible and competent.

While a bender necessarily contains random elements, he has it roughly plotted out. There is the pub, the Last Chance Saloon, where most of the work will be done; a venue where his colleagues will not turn up unexpectedly and where he can usually find a fight or other entertainment. There will be some trips to other favorite haunts. There will be drunken slumbers broken by ten a.m. returns to the Last Chance Saloon where the hair of the dog will gradually accelerate to an evening crescendo.

I meet Isaiah because I’m staying upstairs and eating downstairs. The pub is in an impoverished country that attracts ex-pats with its cheap beer, ‘happy’ pizza and general lawlessness. Read More