Wander the main street of Avenida 10 de Agusto, known locally as Leather Street, where over four blocks there are more than 100 boutique-style leather stores, selling jackets, trousers, bags and even shirts, many with workshops behind the display floor.

BBC: Otavalo: The land of Andean artistry

Down a narrow, twisting alley leading off of their street, under balconies filled with children and the mutts that wander throughout all the favelas, and up a steep set of stairs is a recording studio crammed incongruously into a space about the size of a Manhattan walk-in closet.

FORBES: Life In the Favela: Gatos Vs. The Working Class

At several metres above street level, you can wander among cherry trees, roses and willows -- and leave the city quite literally beneath you.

BBC: The great outdoors in urban Paris