Initiate Stage 2: Salvador de Bahia

Leaving Rio tomorrow morning, following up on a key break in the mission (now codenamed 'The Cats From Brazil', see earlier posts for clues).

Yesterday began with the England match. Good effort, entirely predictable result. Still, I had an adrenaline stomach-ache for a couple of hours at least. No time to wallow though, as Agent Calé and I immediately hotfoot it to Racinho, the favela where we watched the previous Brazil game. Alot happened that day and I can't get it all down yet, but - it involved a lot of very loud firecrackers/explosives that were used in flagrant disregard for any safety instructions they might have come with; a generally good-natured acceptance that their team lost because they played really badly; piles of yellow and green plastic decorations torn down by kids, so big they could jump into them and roll around; a ginger gentleman with a pump-action shotgun, which is always a dodgy combination anyway; a street party that was pretty impressive given the events of the day; and an astonishing collection of photographs taken by a small gang of 7-9-year-old girls that kept begging me for my cameraphone, running off with it, bringing it back to me to reset it back to camera mode, then demanding it back again. Two hours this went on. I haven't figured out how to get 20 photos from my phone on to a computer yet, but I'm working on it.