‘This is hell’: two years and no power in Europe’s largest shantytown

In the Canada Real, close to Madrid, residents adapt to survive, but there is fear as they look ahead to winter

The struggle to survive without electricity for two whole years has left its mark on the flesh and fabric of sector six of the Canada Real. It is there in the second-degree burns on the leg of the little boy who got too close to a gas heater, and in the dry, cracked hands of the woman who does the family's washing with a stone and a bar of soap.

It is there in the solar panels that have appeared on the roofs of the luckier residents, and in the fires that burn in the cold, dark homes of the less fortunate. And it is there in the memories of the people of Europe's largest shantytown, which lies half an hour's drive from the centre of Madrid.