Valeu, Império

Today is the TRUE last day of Carnaval, meaning, the last day of parades.... I'll wrap up with one more day of escola gossip, and then tomorrow I'll be saying farewell for another year.

- Banda de Ipanema's new parade today is going straight into the sea! Everyone's wearing costumes that they can take straight into the ocean. Rumor is that the band is going to be mostly or all tamborims or chocalhos, no brass, so that they can go swimming too.

- Oh, to be in Monobloco today... Today is the Great Parade.

- In escola news: The Sambodromo had another delirious, drunk and slightly-falling-apart Parade of Champions. Pop star Ivete Sangalo showed up and threw the whole Sambodromo into a dizzy. Later, Beija-Flor's director (Laila, the one who was nearly killed Friday) felt the need to take to the microphone just before Beija-Flor's parade to say that the Rio Carnaval today is completely pure and honest and uncorrupt; unlike the bad old days when votes used to be bought. Everyone was fascinated by this little speech, because it revealed that Beija-Flor is still stinging from the accusations last year of buying votes. And more fascinating still, the Sambodromo crowd actually jeered him when he said that! They almost drowned him out. Seems like everyone thinks Beija-Flor does buy votes. But, everyone also agrees that they don't have to, because they really do put on the best parades. Ironic, huh?

- Portela is having some kind of crisis. The porta-bandeira, carnavalesco, and lead singer all quit on Friday. The porta-bandeira said there were 'internal problems' in the escola. The singer just said "Portela is very complicated." And all the drummers in the bateria are saying that the mestre is probably leaving too. Those are the 4 key jobs in an escola's parade. What's going on?

- But Portela did manage to recruit Sao Clemente's naked girl! Remember the girl who paraded nude in the Sao Clemente parade and cost them half a point? Well, she showed up on Saturday in the Portela passista ala, this time wearing a bikini - and she was nearly assaulted by an absolutely furious Sao Clemente fan. He found her in the parade gathering-area, threatened to hit her and got so scary she had to call the police. Meanwhile, the carnavalesco of Sao Clemente explains, "She was supposed to be dressed as an Indian, so it made sense for her to be nude. She wasn't nude just for no reason at all." And she did try to wear that little tapa-sexo... but it just fell off, hey, what can you do?

- More tension in Mangueira. Police raided the quadra last week and found that the secret bateria tunnel has been sealed. Ivo Meirelles, he former president of the bateria, who has been hiding out in the Mangueira favela, has left the favela; he said on Saturday night that Mangueira was "no longer comfortable." The traficante Tuchinha, who wrote Mangueira's samba, has vanished and his second has just been executed. Control of the Mangueira favela is now thought to be in the hands of his nephew "Pitbull". The paper says he is "known for his violent style." This is all just creepy as hell.

- And Império Serrano's return to Grupo Especial is being widely treated as something like the second coming of Christ. All the Brazilian blogs are full of heart-wrenching letters about how much it means to people: to see a great but poor escola, with so much tradition and history, go through a crushing and humiliating defeat (sent to Grupo A! When Imperio was one of the founders of Especial!) , but work so hard all year and, EVEN IN HEAVY RAIN, put on the best parade of their lives and win again. It has touched some kind of chord. The pummeling rain just seemed to give the whole parade a sort of classic Shakespearean touch and made everybody sing and dance and play that much harder.

I think the Brazilian people see a sort of hope and faith in this story that they rarely see in real life. We Americans are used to this sort of story, the mythology of "all-your-hard-work-will-pay-off"; try, try again; keep on working and all your dreams will come true; it's the American dream, right? But, for most Brazilians, life rarely works out that way. So they are saying: Valeu, Império. [Thank you.]