Home » Belize » More on the issue of lyrical king & tropical gigalos

well, contemplation has given way to acceptance, as always, and even begun to inspire a creative nonfiction piece contrasting caye caulker and amburgeise caye. these are my rough thoughts on the subject that the piece is going to come out of.

More on the issue of lyrical king & tropical gigalos

Morgan Lockhart
2006-04-29 13:46:38

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well, contemplation has given way to acceptance, as always, and even begun to inspire a creative nonfiction piece contrasting caye caulker and amburgeise caye. these are my rough thoughts on the subject that the piece is going to come out of.

lyrical king is our gigalo. our own private islander. almost every white woman/group has one. in amburgeise, our hotel, which, being here in caulker, more closlely begins to resemble and be defined as a resort in my head though it's not really a resort compared to most -- at any rate, our hotel, hired men who hung out at the beach. gene and elvis. they were friendly, moreso than the rest of the staff, and would get people drinks, and talk with everyone. there was still a definite sense that they were staff, tips were slipped into a hand when a drink was bought, but more friendly than the others. really, lyrical king is caye caulker's equivalent of that job.

here, almost everyone is young, beautiful, and on a budget. those who are older are the wandering hip-older types on extended vacations like a man from switzerland who we suspect may be getting us involved in a conterfeiting sceheme as he keeps selling us belizian money... but anyhow, he's on a three month trip around central america, his skin is dark and leathery, his clothing practical. he's not like the beached whales back at banana beach who demanded gene and elvis bring them banana coladas and burritos and discussed the stocls. signs advertise affordable snorkeling trips, eco-tours. every restaurant and bar has a happy hour that's displayed outside. despite the smallness of the place, there is a nightlife. nothing that rivals a real city, but a far cry beyond anything amburgeise could produce.

so the people here have a different vibe, they are of a different type, but they are still on vacation. there is still no poverty in sight, everyone here still smiles a little broader than you imagine they want to. people here will not be waited on, will not be lead on tours except by butch young british women covered in tribal tattoos named allie, and they are not going to ask to be waited on.

but the fact is that they are still strangers in a strange land. so instead of having gene bring them drinks and slipping him tips when it's good, lyrical master asks them to get him a beer on their way to the bar but then yells creole incanations at the bartender so that their drinks come out a little stronger. instead of giving you information on where to go, he goes with you, but makes you pay his cover when you're there. if you're willing, doubtless he'll slip in your bedroom at night. he's information and companionship, entertainment, but he still has a price.

i liken him to the beach dogs. they wander from porch to porch, cabana to cabana, and love up each person without discrimination, your own little pet away from home, until, that is, it's time to move on to the next beach chair and tastier scraps.

there's a part of me that understands this unspoken agreement, and i can't deny that lyrical has told us things, and taken us places, and introduced us to people we never would have met otherwise. as long as all parties understand what's going on, what's the harm? but i still find it hard to swallow. because it's so ingenuine. and i think if anyone imagines there's much of a difference between lyrical king and gene or elvis, who fancies themselves better and more boehmian because it's not being stated that they're being waited on, they're fooling themselves. but i know i'm also just of a particular type of person, the sort who does not want to buy companionship with money, or sex, but just by merit of personality and shared experience. and i'm an overly self-reliant person who has a hard time taking, but who also doesn't expect to be asked to give at the same time.