Gualala - It's a name that's hard to pronounce and even harder to spell. Sometimes it's hard to remember. Some people call it gwa-LA-la, but the natives call it wa-LA-la. This comes from the Kashaya Pomo Indian phrase, "ah kha wa la lee" which means, "Where the water flows down", which makes sense--for the river goes out to the ocean right across from the center of town, right by that big sand bar where the whales stop for lunch every year.