Replying to Stuck on the blue screen...

So, the other day my friend's macbook was acting sluggish (the mouse was responding very slowly to movement on the trackpad, etc) and he restarted it. Upon trying to start up again the computer won't make it past the chime and stays on the blue start up screen with the spinning wheel in the middle. Normally I am sure he would just go to the apple store but we are in Belize for 4 months and there is no one to be found anywhere who knows anything about macs.

Anyone have any ideas of a remedy or is he screwed until we get back to the States?