It's not every day you get to meet one of the most famous soccer (sorry, futebol) players in the world. But there we were: driving far from town, stopping to eat at a rundown restaurant fit for Hemingway or maybe Hunter S. Thompson. Getting to meet Ronaldinho was a bit murky. We didn't know whether we'd land him. But after our interpreter said many things we didn't understand, along came Brazil's soccer superstar, whom we also didn't understand.

Back in Rio, we were taken to a squatter's part of town known as a favela, where we felt right at home when they kicked up the music for Capoeira (provided other people did the dance-fighting). The very next day, on a traffic island, we saw more dance-fighting. And so, just as when B-52's "Love Shack" or any Stevie Wonder song plays at a wedding, I got up to (sort of) get down.