The official and the unofficial

One of the most interesting things about Brazil is the existence of official and unofficial versions of many different things. And when I say "unofficial," that usually means "illegal but widely overlooked."

Here are a few examples:

taxis
Like most places, you have official taxis (here they are white with a "taxi" sign on top) and people driving their own cars as unofficial taxis, trying to pick people up at the bus station or airports. Here you also have the "perueiros" who drive along some of the bus routes in cars and vans picking up people who are waiting for the bus (usually charging the same price as the bus and even accepting the paper bus vouchers that some people receive from their jobs).

lottery
There are official lottery offices that sell government-sponsored lottery tickets, and there is the unofficial "numbers" game that uses different animal symbols and is very popular.

real estate
There is land that you officially buy and sell, and then there is land that people squat on. If the squatters are successful, they can even "sell" it back to the government if the slum needs to be torn down.

CDs, videos and software
Because of the extremely high prices of the genuine items compared to the average salary, pirated (illegal copies of) CDs, videos and software are often easier to find than the legitimate versions.

vendors
You've got people who apply for permits to sell things at local market fairs (e.g. there is a huge crafts fair downtown every Sunday morning), and you have the people who just walk around selling food, drinks and other items. Several people carry boxes or coolers around their necks, and the more sophisticated ones have shopping carts.

churches
There are local branches of many widely recognized churches such as Catholic, Baptist, Presbyterian, Methodist, Assembly of God, but then are a lot of tiny churches that spring up overnight with no affiliation and a pastoral staff with no particular qualifications.

bus routes
On less-crowded buses in smaller neighborhoods, the driver will often want to veer from the regular route and skip some stops. The driver or the fare-collector will ask you where you want to go, and it's very difficult to negotiate these unplanned changes when you're less-than-fluent in Portuguese. There are also "official" changes in bus routes of which you may not be aware. For example, one bus I take went down a different street one Sunday, and only later did I find out why. There is a street fair and a lot of traffic on the regular street on the 28th of every month because the church is named for a particular saint whose "day" is on the 28th of October, but there is generally a celebration on the 28th of every month.

The team from Valdosta, Georgia flew back to the U.S. yesterday, and I spent the day with them before they left, going to the artisan's fair downtown, Sunday school, lunch, hanging out and then out to the airport. The church where they worked all last week gave them a royal send-off, and I hope they had an easy trip home.