(This is the second part of a two part post about the favelas of Rio. Click here for the first post.)

The second stop on our favela tour was Vila Canoas, a much smaller favela (pop. 2,500) that has receieved a lot of funding from the World Bank and NGOs. Many favelas are situated close to the city and to wealthy neighborhhoods because they provide the easiest access to jobs for favela residents who work as maids, nannies, waiters. According to Marina, the minimum wage in Brazil is $180 per month. School teachers earn about 500 reais a month (about $250). Policemen earn about 1,200 reais, which goes some way towards explaining why some are corrupt.

Hopefully, this photo gives you some idea of just how narrow favela alleyways can be. In Vila Canoas, we were passed by a number of men hauling a sack of bricks on their shoulders, zig zagging through the maze-like alleyways. How they get furniture down there I have no idea. Many of the favela homes, especially down the alleyways, lack windows so you can literally peer into people’s lives. Although the exteriors were often a hodge podge of materials, the interiors were as clean and well-equipped as any Western home, including widescreen TVs and nice dining tables and chairs. Many of these goods are bought on credit. In Rio, you can even buy shoes in installments.

While we were in Vila Canoas we visited a school called Para Ti run by an Italian NGO. Kids in Rio only go to school for the morning or the afternoon so Para Ti steps in to give them something to do for the second half of the day, keeping them off the streets and away from the influence of drug dealers.

Children under 18 in Brazil do not go to jail, so they make ideal lookouts, runners and couriers for the drugs trade. Something tells me this Para Ti student may be headed for a career with one of the city’s half dozen or so football (soccer) teams.