The highest city in the world is perched on a frozen glacier at 16,730ft.
La Rinconada is in the Peruvian Andes, 5,100 metres above sea level. It is believed to be the highest permanent settlement in the world and is nicknamed the “Devil’s Paradise”.
Located near a gold mine, it began as a small prospector camp. From 2001 and 2009, National Geographic estimated that the population increased to 30,000 people from just a settlement due to the price of gold going up 235 percent over the period.
The town sits on a frozen glacier, giving it an alpine tundra climate, with temperatures between -2C and 3C all year round. They can fall as low as -12C.
It is considered one of the most dangerous places in the world due to being practically lawless. Travel YouTuber Yes Theory visited the town and said it was “by far the sketchiest place I’ve ever been to” and that he’s “never been as worried going into filming”.
He added that while there he saw “fights breaking out everywhere and people giving us looks as we walked around”.
Many miners work at the gold mine owned by Corporación Ananea. They work for 30 days without payment and for one day they are allowed to work for themselves.
On this day of the month, miners are allowed to take as much ore as they can carry. Whether the ore contains any gold or not is a matter of luck. This system sometimes ends with miners not being compensated for their work.
A very good day for these men would see them find 50g of gold, for women it’s around 15g a week. This could fetch up to £2,900 and £870 respectively.
Women are banned from working directly in the mines and so they work outside, sifting through what has been discarded in the hope of finding something of value.
The town is dangerous due to it being practically lawless. Miners have been shot dead in the tunnels, young women are trafficked into brothels and physical fights are common.
When police or other authorities come to town to try to enforce the law or restrict mining, they are threatened by miners with the dynamite used to blast open the tunnels.
The town lacks plumbing (there are just three showers for 50,000 people) and sanitation systems (rubbish is simply dumped outside the town) with pollution from plastics and other types of trash causing a number of illnesses.
Hypoxia is a significant health problem due to the low air pressure with researchers estimating that at least 25 percent of residents suffer from it.
There is also significant contamination by mercury, due to the mining practices. Mining also contaminates the freshwater on the mountain which carries heavy metals directly to Lake Titacaca, the largest lake in South America.
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