Let's go to Mambajao Tony!

Mambajao is the capital "city" of Camiguin island. It is just a few streets. I walk around in the central market and of course everyone stares at me. It is very dark inside and there is a suffocating heat. There are many sellers and there are few buyers. All about I hear Visayan being spoken, punctuated now and again with 'good morning sir'. I duck into a maze of rice and burlap sacks filled with raw good, I need water. There is a boy, he leads me around, he finds water, he finds beer, then I go to pay. He is staring shyly and smiling, I know by now I have to initiate any conversation, but I can tell he knows little English. I see a Mr. Clean ad, I point to the head and I say Bald, no hair! and he laughs and so does the woman counting my money. She says, It is good, no need shampoo! Then we all laugh. The boy asks me Where country are you from sir. America, USA. I can't tell if it registers, but he follows me all the way out to the street, we wave good bye.

In another stall I see small basketballs. I motion to Toto and he begins to sing a song about basketball. Now after the billiards thing I know I can beat him at this game. Are there larger basketballs? No, only junior, no senior. It is OK, I buy one. We will play PIG later. Toto takes the ball and begins to bounce it from knee to knee, it seems he is a soccer player as well. Where do these talents end?

We travel to the cold springs at Santo Nino. Some things are universal, Toto is very reluctant to stop and ask for directions. He seems puzzled when I pull out a map, I don't think he has ever seen a map. Finally we find the springs. Toto brings the ball and we rent a 'cottage' for 10 pesos. The 'cottage' is a picnic table with a roof. We also rent a 'dunkin donut' for 10 pesos; a 'dunkin donut' is an inner tube. Toto throws the basketball in the water and he swims like a fish; each time he comes up for air he butts the ball with his head. I don't bother to ask what this game is. The water is indeed cold and feels very good after the heat of the market in Mambajao. Above me there are towering coconut trees and many smaller banana trees. A man comes to me with a wide smile, he says Swim? I say yes, swim. You swim? Yes, I swim. You swim in water? Yes, in water I swim. This goes on for another minute, I don't see a way out but to keep repeating swim swim swim. He is drunk on Fighter wine. He holds up the bottle? No, thank you. Ok he says Friend! and we high five. Well that is enough of that so I go back to the water.

Toto is on a wooden slide which doubles as a diving platform. He has the basketball. He stands with his back to the water. I say is this the olympics? What will be his next trick? I don't know, let's watch. We wait for the big event. It seems very serious. I wait for this acrobatic...finally he tosses the ball in the water nonchalantly, turns around and falls sideways with a splash. Joke only!

I float on the dunkin donut and I see the drunken man with the Fighter wine. He is hugging another man. I say, I think he is gay. Well...maybe he is just drunk. No, I don't think a man can get that drunk! Laughter of course. It is time to go. Toto has trouble with my name, Johnny comes out as Tony, I try to correct him a few times then say OK I am Tony. Why not? I am Tony Montana. Let's go Tony! he says.

At the sunken cemetery. It was submerged in 1871 by the Vulcan Daan volcanic eruption. I ask if we can see the graves underwater, but they are covered in lava from the eruption. Toto find a sea horse, it is alive and it sits on my arm wiggling. This is good luck for a man to find a sea horse. Toto finds a blue star fish and puts in on top of his head like a jester cap so I can take a picture. It is enough, Let's go Tony!

We play billiards again, I have learned whose side to be on. I am always on the team with Toto. Jesus Christ! We win every game. We play a Filipino man with a small moustache, he laughs about the Jesus Christ, we all laugh. It grows boring to win each game so I leave the two of them to play for a while. The lady bartender has a serene face and her name is Tita. We call her Aunt Tita after the first round, and this is normal. Everyone is family. When I return Toto is about to put in his last ball. The other man has 6 balls still on the table. He laughs and says 'Jesus Christ!' It is only a game. Let's go Tony!

We take a boat out to White Island. I snorkel and look at the fish, then we drink San Miguel. There are 7 men under a makeshift shed, they wear bandanas on their heads and smoke. I ask if we can rent a shed, or cottage as they call it here. They say there is no owner and they all smile. Then they get in a boat and row away. They are fishermen.

The sun goes down and the ink sky returns, we head to the hot springs. Again Toto will not ask for directions; it takes an extra hour to arrive so I just sit in the back and drink San Miguel beers. The one main road on the island, named the National Highway, at night it becomes a sidewalk. Everywhere there are people walking, children, men, women, families, they walk everywhere. Everyone waves to us and I wave back. Finally we get to the hot springs and swim some more. It is late and the San Miguel has taken over now. I walk carefully, and I wander away from the 'cottage' and up a slope to get a better view of the stars, away from the lights that ring the hot springs. My mother used to tell me about this, seeing the milky way. It looks like a wispy cloud. I grab a wooden staff and I say I am Abu Sayaff! I am Tony Montana! Say hello to my little friend! Toto comes up the slope. No Tony, don't go up there! There are cobra snakes. There are many and they live in the grass. I come down quickly to the cottage. I am with my friends and am very happy and safe. Everyone looks out for me.

The next morning, while waiting for breakfast of Lapu Lapu at a fishery, I wander down a lane. There are two girls and a mother, they are bathing in the river near a banana tree and a canoe. They all smile and wave. I hear them talking in Visayan, American, American they say. I take their picture and they cover their smiles with their hands. They are too shy. Around a bend in the road. I find a wooden makeshift basketball rim. Aha. Toto, get the ball! It is time for Tony to win for once! First Toto sings his basketball song, and everyone sings along except me. I don't know words but I write them down later.

"Basketball! Basketball! Ang Sarap Sarap Mag Basketball! E Shoot Mo, E Shoot Mo Ang Ball!"

We play PIG. As we warm up Toto dribbles the ball between his legs on the gravel road. Am I in for it again? He makes a shot, but I follow with a make yes! He makes another, I am P. After a few more turns I have PI and he has nothing. He makes another shot, a bank shot. I concentrate, crouch my legs and toss it up carefully. It misses entirely and bounces into the grass. I am a PIG.

Toto is maybe 5'6" and 140 pounds. Much of that weight is in his pot belly, which he announces to the world proudly by distending it when he walks. I have not seen a less self-conscious man. He smokes like a chimney. I am convinced he can knock me unconscious with his forefinger and thumb if he wants. But he does not want that. He wants to eat Lapu Lapu and then return to his wife, Ginging, and his boy, the one I call King Roy. It is OK. Let's go Tony.