Gale's Point
Trip Start
Jul 04, 2008
1
19
31
Trip End
Oct 22, 2008
Gale's Point,
Belize
Tuesday, September 9, 2008
at 6.30am in the bright morning we got up to pack and be on the 7.30am Triple J ferry to Belize City. upon arrival in BC (called only Belize by Belizeans) we got directions and walked to the bus station - saving $5 usd in a taxi fare. it was only about 7 blocks. todays destination... Gale's Point... home of a Jimbea drum school and a manatee sanctuary. at the bus station we were told there are no direct buses to Gale's Point - so take a bus to La Democracia and then take another bus from there... Calling La Democracia a town is being very generous. the bus stop was pretty much across from a gas station and next to a power plant. there was also a small fruit stand.. 3 bananas for 25 cents. getting off the bus we made our way over to the covered bus stop across the street to ask the people when the next bus was to Gale's Point (right next to a sign that said gale's point 25 miles) - no bus go there anymore..
la democracia village
. hmm what to do now. so we got some fruit for breakfast and got some water from the gas station. we hung out for a bit, Shane played checkers with the rasta guys there and we watched some other locals play. evidently this bus stop shelter acted as a town meeting place as well, not everyone was waiting for the bus, but just hanging out. so our options now are 1. walk 25 miles to gale's point, its about 100 F on a dirt highway or 2. try and hitch a ride. one of the guys at the bus stop was actually waiting for a ride down the Coastal Highway and when his ride showed up he said we could hop in the back of the pickup. It was a pretty bumpy ride down a gravel highway in the back of a pickup going 60mph - see video. at the crossroads we hopped out, thinking we would have to walk the last 3 miles into town, but no, luck was with us and there was a big school bus waiting at the crossroads. so the driver took us - his only passengers- up the road to the town.. only later did we find out that he was actually stuck because the bridge to dangriga was washed out. he drove us down to the drum school and pointed out the 3 shops in town, 1 restaurant and said we could find cheap rooms here.
emmeth and Jill run the drum school and were were able to get a cheap rate to sleep on the floor of the drum school for $25 bzd per night through Thursday night. emmeth is from gales point but is booked for many events throughout Belize, central America and the USA for shows
1-gales point
. Jill is originally from Cincinnati but moved to southern Belize (punta gorda) a while ago and opened a tattoo shop there. at some point she decides to come to gales point and shes been there 8 years now... its a small world... both very cool peopleso now we have a place to stay and its off to explore the town (population 500) and get food. gales point is a two mile long sand spit into a LARGE saltwater lagoon. we find the town really just a collection of rustic homes, restaurant to be a place called 'gentle's cool spot'. after dinner (choices are rice and beans with or without chicken) we oiled up with baby oil and headed off to the store. halfway there Shane attempted to make friends with a local horse munching grass in a yard. the horse, i thought smelled the baby oil and started following me. he nipped at me and was really pushy so with a quick slap i let him know that i wasn't interested in fooling around. he continued his aggressive tact with me as Kirstin, having no experience with livestock and not wanting to dance with the 900 pound bully, walked hurriedly down the road. i went into a field, ditched the camera i had in my pocket, and jumped into the lagoon. the horse did not follow and upon my return he was kept at bay by the palm frond i was swinging at him.
well come to find out, the horse is aggressive to more then a few people. in fact he seems to be this little communities' largest problem
gales point
.our host emmeth, runs an african creole drum school, builds drums, and plays shows, both local and in the states. in 1995 emmeth led a giant drum circle at the seattle center, during a folklike festival of more than 100 people, well into the night. of course seattles finest came by and shut that down and threatened to put him in jail.
mr. gentle of 'gentle's cool spot' is an older african american man with a kind and open heart and many stories to share while we waited for and ate our meals of rice, beans and chicken.
our stay in gales point was punctuated with an incredible sunrise as we prepared to leave. the ride 25 miles out to catch a bus at the western highway was provided by emmeth and family. we picked up others from the point to go out and the drive took us 1.5 hours. we arrived back at la democracia at about 7.30am and boarded the bus headed for the jungle town of San Ignacio.....
