Visitando la ciudad con menos oxígeno del mundo (peligrosa en todo sentido) ⚠️🇵🇪

In this city there are spots that even the police dare not enter. Very commonly

you see warnings that someone might shoot you, that you might be lynched.

People are killed just like that, at any time of the day, not just one night.

Mostly there is human trafficking here. They all carry weapons, private weapons.

The working conditions at more than five thousand m above sea level are very

different. One feels short of breath in the highest city in the world.

Few places have made as much of an impact on me as this one.

We are in Rinconada Peru, the highest city in the world and, therefore, the one

with the least oxygen.

And yes, I can honestly tell you, you can really feel the change in altitude. If

you walk too fast, you get upset and start to feel short of breath, you start to

get dizzy.

This city is dangerous in many ways, the first being, of course, the lack of

air, the second, the poor health conditions and the third, the high levels of

crime that are reported.

There is much talk of human trafficking, robberies, kidnappings, murders, just

to name a few.

First impressions upon arriving here is that there is too much garbage.

In fact, we are seeing it right here, a product of negligence on the part of the

authorities, who perhaps just come to pick up some of the garbage from the town

and throw it away.

Among the garbage we see people known as payaqueros working.

They search through the garbage, trying to find something of value, especially

any minerals that might be left over.

In fact, it is not only what you see, but a lot of mine waste, because as this

is a mining town for a long time, people come from all over the continent,

trying to find the dream, to find some gold, and the payaqueros scrape all kinds

of waste, praying to have some luck to be able to find something of great value.

During the days we will be here, we will be very careful. We come with an armed

security team, we are looking everywhere.

Because yes, the simple fact that here behind my back there is a sign that says

stop, order to fire, it does make me a little nervous, I won't lie to you.

Well, come on, we have a great journey ahead of us, the corner is waiting for

us, let's go for it.

As I was telling you, this is a mining town where gold is mostly sought.

Being more than five one hundred m above sea level, in some areas five four

hundred m above sea level, the working conditions are very hard.

In addition to this, there is the cold and also the certainly immoral working hours.

Most of the people who work in the mines do not have fixed schedules as such and

there is a system in which they work for thirty-five to forty days without any

kind of pay and then they are given a week to work freely and be able to keep

what they generate during those days.

There is no salary as such, they are quite severe conditions.

Well, here the working days are forty to forty-five days and they give you the

cachorreo payment, as cachorreo they give you.

Cachorreo is you keep what you work with, right? Sure, it's what you get or if

you get lucky, you get lucky, if you don't get lucky, you don't get lucky.

How many days of puppyhood do you have?

One week only.

That's the way we work here at Minas Rincónada.

Now I am struck by all the talk about this city, that there is a lot of crime,

that it is one of the most dangerous cities in the world. Is this true? Let's

talk to some locals.

It's counter-dangerous, it's like a no man's land, people are killed as if

nothing happened.

At any time of the day, not only at night? No, it is too dangerous, as you said

a moment ago, any time of the day, especially at night, you can't go for a walk.

People from abroad do not know the reality here and it is very dangerous, to be honest.

For example, the shootings, when people run for their lives for fear of being

hit by a bullet.

Have you ever been involved in a scary situation like this?

Yes, at any time. For example, that could happen right now.

At any time.

At any time, it is unexpected.

What kind of crimes do you hear about? Do you hear what happens here, on a daily basis?

Mostly, here there is human trafficking, robberies, assaults, mostly for the

mineral, which is gold.

Hey, officer, I'm curious, do you see civilians with guns here on a daily basis?

Or why are you carrying such a big gun?

Look, most of the people here carry weapons, private weapons.

For our safety, that's why we carry that vest, which is the AKM, and with two

caserinas. With that we protect ourselves. And there are always confrontations

at night, in the morning. At any time there is a confrontation.

And look, here we see that some of the police also carry another type of gun.

What type of gun is this?

Prieto Bereta pistol.

Prieto Bereta? And this one is like a shotgun, isn't it? A shotgun with a

recoil-operated shotgun.

I'm getting impressed by the amount of bootleg alcohol you find in the stores.

For example, look at this one, Bacardi Limon, there with the girl in a thong.

Clearly, this was not made in the Bacardi factory. And yes, you see all kinds,

all brands, handmade vodka, everywhere.

They tell me that it is not original, but that it doesn't make you blind either,

that you can drink it, that it is delicious.

There are liquors for the mine, coke, cigarettes, everything. They take it to

the holy land or to the east, to the guichita, as they say.

And the coca leaves, what are they sold as per handful?

Yes, they are sold for five, for three soles.

That's all they take for the day.

And tell me, here in La Rinconada, is there a lot of drinking? Do people drink a lot?

Yes, sometimes they come down from the mine and go over there, to the corner.

Drinking there, they spend money.

Yeah, I mean, you would say it's the activity. Normally. Hey, for the altitude,

what do you recommend? A lot of coca leaf or what?

That's right, the coquita leaf is always for the height.

So, with this I chew and it goes.

Yes, the coquita is always good for the altitude.

Hey, what about here at night? What at night, what do you recommend me to do?

Where can I go to have fun?

Let's just go to sleep, because it is dangerous here.

There are discos, but no, no, no. I recommend that you just rest.

In the downtown area of the city there are many gold buying centers, but

everywhere. All these places have signs about this.

The term legal weight, exact weight, is used a lot. You also see a lot of stalls

that say they buy spoiled gold or fix spoiled gold.

This means that it is gold mixed with more minerals, which is not the purest gold.

So, in these places they offer you the service of maybe melting it down, maybe

extracting it, so that you can then sell it in another better stall or go to

another neighboring community and get maybe a better price.

The more you travel out of the corner, the better price you can get.

It depends on each mining company, sometimes, mostly when it is a lot, it is

convenient for them to take it to other places, but it is also risky to take it

because there are many stops and sometimes even the rateras themselves dress up

as police, they take you to the police station and there is no more gold and you

can't go and complain to anyone.

And look how curious it is what we are seeing. A big truck is going to pass by

right now and, evidently, it covers the whole street.

So, my friend here, who has her stall, what they have to do is to remove it and

now the truck can pass.

It's good, look what an interesting dynamic the workers have here on a daily

basis in the corner.

And you can really find everything, there are markets that sell shoes, clothes,

food of all kinds, fresh meat, cooked food, liquor stores, there are gyms, there

are dentists and hotels.

Yes, there are hotels, but there are a lot of them everywhere.

This is due to the fact that many people come for short terms, they come maybe

for two weeks to try their luck, then they decide to stay maybe for two months,

maybe for six months.

So, they are all quick rental contracts. That's why there are so many hotels

everywhere and also because being a mining town, of course there is a lot of

prostitution and these kind of hotels are colloquially called slaughterhouses.

So, you see streets full, but full of hotels, hostels, you see it everywhere and

in a very daily way.

You see all over the place these kinds of signs that prohibit littering, but

people don't seem to pay much attention to them. Everything here is full of

garbage, but full of garbage.

All these pipes are used to carry water to different parts, either from the

towns or from the mining centers to work.

And this community we are seeing is called Lunar de Oro, with about two,zero

people who are living there in very scarce conditions, struggling, pursuing the

dream of finding a little gold.

Listen, and no matter how much we come with police and everything, there is a

certain point that they no longer go down, from here it is already a little more

no man's land. So, yes, look, not even the police want to enter.

It tells you a lot about this colony in front of our eyes. We came across a

trail of blood of someone who was possibly being chased on his way to the health center.

See how here are the drops, this is the biggest stain, this is where he lost the

most blood and there are even some stray bullets in the no parking sign.

Did he survive? Who knows, because the only health center in La Rincónada is

quite scarce.

Even they don't have hot water or drinking water. I am a doctor zero.

I am doing my social service for one year.

what types of cases are commonly seen here at the health center?

Industrial accidents, assaults, impact by firearms.

We have had quite a few.

what has been the hardest part of serving here?

The hardest thing, I think, is the fear of something happening to you, the

insecurity that exists here.

We don't know at what exact moment an emergency is going to arrive, it could be

three in the morning, one in the morning, and you are obliged to attend to it.

Yes, there is no doubt that the people who work here face very tough challenges

every day.

To get fuel, the nearest gas stations are such a half-hour drive.

So, what people do is they go to little stores that sell gasoline or diesel in

little bottles, like soda, either for the electricity generators or for the cars

or motorcycles that drive around the city.

Public restroom signs are everywhere. This is because most of the rooms that

workers rent do not have showers, and if they do, they do not have hot water.

Now, bathing in one of these really is very expensive. They charge you for a

shower for about ten, twenty minutes, ten which equals about three dollars.

That's why there is a joke in the community that bathing in the rinconada is an

option, it's not a necessity.

I have been working here at the mine for four months. The high demand for work

here is a bit strong, so I had to manage to work here in the mines.

Since I'm from Puno, the climate hardly shocks me, but sometimes the delinquency

is just a little bit scary and that's all.

And what are you looking for here, gold or what?

Yes, here in the dismantled mine we are looking for gold.

How are you doing? Have you had any luck finding it?

It can be said to be somewhat regular.

There are other people who always find a good amount at the least amount of

time. I've had almost regular luck, I won't say that I've had a lot or a low

amount either.

You are also against your health because of the altitude. Obviously the blood,

lacking oxygen, thickens.

We can suffer from many diseases, so in order to oxygenate, I also go to the

city, to another place to work.

We managed to enter a gold mine. It is important to enter safely, because they

tell me that even inside the mines many crimes happen, that criminals wait for

you inside, they wait for the miners, they assault them.

So, yes, we are very cautious. Right here we meet a chinchilico, known in other

regions also as the uncle, also as the grandfather.

It has many interpretations, but to simplify it, let's say it is the deity, the

incomprehensible that governs the mine.

Every morning the workers leave an offering, it can be alcohol, it can be coca

leaves, etcetera, etcetera, with the hope that the chinchilico will show them

where there is gold.

Now, where it gets murky, is that all this represents a very toxic mentality,

very twisted, in which the miners believe that the chinchilico sees your

intentions and your intentions with the money you find, with whatever you find,

have to be bad, they have to see in your eyes that you are going to spend it on

prostitutes, on alcohol, on vices.

Because if the chinchilico sees in your eyes that you are going to spend it on

your family, that you are saving for a better future, what he is going to do is

to make fun of you and simply give you deceit, he will give you fake gold, he

will give you a golden stone that looks like gold, but it is not, he is going to

make fun of you.

So, this explains in large part why there is so much vice in this town, because

people fall into this mentality that what I earn, the chinchilico says it has to

be for vice.

It is through this type of holes, with very tight holes, that the miners enter

and walk up to a kilometer, even more, to get to the area where they have to

begin to mine.

This type of stone is what they call the deceitful one, that when one is a

novice who does not know it, he goes with the pretence and says: No mames, I

have already become a millionaire, I have already found it.

And when you go to sell it, man, it's just a shiny rock. Your dick! And it feels

really cold here. And that's because we have lowered a small percentage of what

the miners lower.

That's why you always see them with their overalls on, very fat, very thick, to

be able to withstand these conditions.

We ventured out into the streets at night to see what the vice scene is like

and, honestly, I must say it's pretty shady.

In several places they wouldn't let me in just because I was me, which makes it

even more obvious that there are things going on in these places that they don't

want the world to know about.

And, what can I tell you, there are so many bars, nightclubs. Where it gets

heavier is when you go into bars that offer the company of girls.

It is well known that there is a lot of human trafficking here and it is very

sad to see it.

Many of these girls are brought to la rincónada by deception, they promise them

some well paid work contract and when they arrive they take their IDs, put them

to work and charge them debts with interest that are practically unpayable.

Very harsh, a very disturbing secret that runs through the town loudly. After

that, we found lodging for the night that cost us $fifteen.

Very complicated to find lodgings with bathrooms, hot water, not to mention,

that is an extremely complicated mission.

And now, starting a new day, we are about to climb Sleeping Beauty, this snowy

mountain that receives that colloquial name, because in effect its rocks seem to

give the shape of a woman sleeping face up.

And we're climbing a mountain practically made of garbage. Everything around

here is lined with waste.

It must get pretty cold in these houses. Look at how they're built. Check it

out, the whole house is built on wooden poles.

Any little thing there, any little tremor, any failure, the house falls down

amidst the mountain of garbage.

This is a warning to thieves from the community, basically saying: If we catch

you stealing or doing something wrong, you will end up hanging like that guy.

It also prohibits the use of balaclavas so that no one wants to cover their

identity and act smart.

And the sign at the top is the most disturbing of all: Order to shoot, do not

stop. Wow! In the neighborhood they even have a soccer field.

It's quite possible that this is the highest soccer field in the whole world.

It's not cool, not even in the highest city in the world. There is a pretext for

not playing sports.

We enter a mill area where you can see all the machines working. Likewise, here,

from the viewpoint, you can see how every house has its milling machine.

These are very harsh conditions. You do have to wear a mask, a good mask,

because if you don't, your lungs are damaged little by little. Suddenly, the

other side of the corner that we saw starts to look beautiful.

Here life is much rougher, it is much dirtier, much more chaotic. The working

conditions are completely different.

No, this is a darker side of the corner.

We arrived at the ice zone. From here we can analyze how all this thaw feeds the

people of the rinconada, whether for work or for human consumption. And yes, it

feels very cold.

One of the greatest risks are landslides, landslides, because if it falls on

you, it will not only be ice, snow, but it will be all the stone, all the

machinery that humans have left here.

It is estimated that twenty people lose their lives every year in this way.

We can see from here how there are people who go up to these heights to mine,

because they believe that no one else is going to get here and that the

expensive mineral could be here.

In fact, in the distance we can see one of the payaqueros' camps. Some may live

there. Most of them just use it as a shelter when a lot of snow falls or when it

is very cold.

But yes, let's not rule out that some will live there in those conditions.

The great majority of those of us who work here come to work in the Riticucho

area, we collect minerals here or the paliaqueras paliaqueras paliaqueamos.

As the people say, here are the people who are very strong. What we do is to

keep warm, sometimes with thermal clothing.

Look I have done glacier hikes and the like in the past, but this has been the

most extreme for very obvious reasons.

No shit. People who have to do this every day and who are told: Work thirty-five

days for free and then next week see what you get out of it.

No, no shit, this is a very hard reflection. Now we have reached the highest

point of the corner. From here we can see everything.

From here it is very cold, the air is much thinner. Wow! It has been a hard hike

physically, but certainly much harder emotionally.

And who would have thought that up to this point we would meet some carnals here

who come to work fixing the telephone antennas.

Do you often come to this area?

We come when the antenna fails, when there is an incident, we have to come here.

And it is a bit tragic because you see the altitude, the cold.

And well, every time it fails, we have to come, yes or yes, to repair the antenna.

Any time, sometimes it fails at night, sometimes during the day.

Wow, what hard work. So, know that all the workers who live there are able to

stay connected to their families because of the work you do.

So, it is a great job and I want to applaud you because not everyone takes the

plunge. I applaud you very much.

Well, there you have it, a little bit of the corner of Peru, a city that I

define as shocking in every sense of the word and that has given me a very cold

bath of reality.

Thank you for joining me. See you, as always, as you know, in a few days with a

new video. Goodbye.