Bolivar is a former Mexican horse bandit turned the Hat Creek Cattle Company cook. A dour man, he has a wife and several daughters who still live in Mexico and whom he visits at regular—if infrequent—intervals. Bolivar isn’t a great cook, and he doesn’t take well to newcomers. Although he starts north with the cattle drive, he turns back after a week and two terrible accidents. Disappointed at the reception he receives from his wife when he makes it back to Mexico, he ultimately returns to Lonesome Dove, where Call finds him still living in the Hat Creek house.