Some families alleviate the dead-end surroundings by installing humble but comfortable furniture and tending tropical gardens. The wealthiest among the cemetery's residents boast color TVs set atop indoor concrete crypts. Poorer families make do with a straw mat laid on the flat cement of raised graves.
Food is available at little shops wedged into the empty spaces of larger tombs.
Snacks are also on sale from pushcarts strategically placed along the paved lanes used by funeral processions. The pushcarts also offer flowers, candles and small Catholic icons which visitors purchase to adorn the burial sites of loved ones. Despite the deathly ambiance, residents try to get on with life. Kids sit next to graves and poke at bleeping, hand-held computer games. Other urchins munch on papayas and popsicles.