As the timer ticks down...

It's been a week or so since my last entry - things got pretty busy after those monkeys made an appearance. It began raining here on Saturday and hasn't really stopped since then, but the mission has been rushing towards its climax unabated by the weather. Highlights of the past seven days include:

- going to a full-on baile funk (funk ball) in Favela de Rocinha in a massive concrete sports hall, with at least 3,000 people in attendance (by 3am, anyway), a live stage show with MCs and dancers, an unexpected appearance by a telenovela star, and a host of gentleman sporting automatic weapons in a group in the centre of the basketball court. I saw some of them dancing too, with the odd AK47 waved in the air in time to the beats. I also heard easily the most exciting and vital music that I've encoutered on this whole trip, and probably the filthiest dancing that the human body is capable of performing. A definite highlight that I'm still trying to process days later;

- being mistaken for someone I'm not in Ipanema by a woman working in a very posh jewellery store, who came up to me in the street and asked "Excuse me, you are movie star, yes?" Not a word of a lie, I was with my surprise Belgian contacts Agents Haggie and Rosey who will confirm the whole story. Haggie and I looked at each other, smiled, and I said, "Sure, that's me." It took another ten minutes to persuade her I was joking when I said this, because she had convinced herself that I was trying to "look like I didn't want to be recognised" as I was wearing one of my beautiful hats. I asked her what kind of movies I was in, and she said "Action". We still have no idea who she thinks I am.

- a visit to the Macaraná stadium, the Brazilian equivalent of Wembley in London in terms of national historical value. I stood in Pelé's foot-imprints, as well as those of Ronaldo and a chap called Roberto Dinamite (one can only hope he's a relation of Napoleon's), saw the locker rooms and ran down the player' tunnel on the pitch, which is helpfully filled with the recorded sound of a cheering crowd.

- last night Calé and I were invited by Juliana's mother to the opera at the magnificent Theatro Municipal in Praca Floriano. We saw Bellini's "I Capuleti e I Montecchi" (Romeo and Juliet), and frankly words will fail me if I try to describe the beauty of the entire experience. Among the 60 or so pictures I have stored on my cameraphone are shots of the building, which I will try to post when I figure out how to get them all off my memory card in one go.

- and, there were more monkeys.

Tonight Dali is hosting a farewell party for me at his phat pad in Copacabana, to be attended by the many new friends I've made here. Final post and pics from Brazil will go up tomorrow before I head to the airport.