La Rinconada: Life and Survival in the World’s Highest City

Hidden deep within the Peruvian Andes lies a place unlike anywhere else on Earth — La Rinconada, the highest permanent settlement in the world. Perched at an astonishing altitude of over 5,000 meters (16,700 feet) above sea level, this city offers breathtaking mountain views and the haunting beauty of perpetual snow.

Yet beneath its icy peaks lies a far darker reality — one of poverty, lawlessness, and human endurance. For those who have ventured to this isolated mining town, La Rinconada feels less like a city and more like a test of survival itself.

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A City at the Edge of the World

Often called “the most remote city on Earth,” La Rinconada is reachable only after a grueling journey through treacherous mountain roads and oxygen-thin air. Travelers report feeling the effects of altitude sickness long before arrival — pounding headaches, dizziness, and an overwhelming sense that they’ve reached the edge of human habitation.

When they finally arrive, they are greeted not by the golden promise of prosperity, but by muddy streets, bitter winds, and an unsettling silence broken only by the sound of pickaxes and shouting miners.

As of 2024, La Rinconada is home to more than 30,000 people — though some estimates suggest closer to 50,000. All are drawn by the same dream: to strike gold in one of the harshest environments on the planet. Here, at over 5,100 meters, the air is so thin that breathing feels like work, and freezing temperatures bite at exposed skin even at noon.

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The Gold That Binds and Breaks Lives

Life in La Rinconada revolves entirely around gold. Nearly every resident — men, women, even children — is connected to the mines in some way. The system is brutal: miners work under the cachorreo arrangement, laboring for 30 days without pay. On the 31st day, they are allowed to take home as much ore as they can carry — a gamble that could bring fortune or nothing at all.

It’s a cruel kind of hope, one that keeps thousands digging deeper into the frozen earth year after year.

But alongside this fragile hope thrives chaos, violence, and desperation. The town has no reliable waste system, little law enforcement, and almost no medical care. The air smells of sulfur and garbage. Liquor shops and improvised brothels fill the alleys. For outsiders, it can feel like stepping into a dystopian frontier where survival eclipses morality.

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Visitors Who Dared to Go

Famous YouTubers such as Yes Theory and Zazza the Italian have risked their safety to document what life is really like in this “city above the clouds.”

Yes Theory described La Rinconada as “the sketchiest place” they had ever visited. In their video, street fights erupted without warning. Locals warned them not to step outside after dark — because when night falls, fear rules the streets.

Just before their arrival, someone had reportedly been shot nearby. The warning proved real when one cameraman was nearly robbed while filming after sunset. The experience left them shaken — and eager to leave before darkness swallowed the town.

Zazza the Italian’s experience was equally harrowing. His voice trembled as he filmed himself gasping for breath:

“We’re over 5,000 meters,” he said. “They say that above this level, it’s no longer suitable for human life. But tens of thousands of people live here. It’s incredible — and terrifying.”

He described the town as “an immense slum stretching into the clouds,” where the cold wind feels like knives and even the air itself seems hostile.

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Law Without Order

During his visit, Zazza was accompanied by two local police officers who revealed what it’s like to enforce law in one of the most dangerous places in Peru.

“Everything happens here,” one officer said. “Armed robbery, assaults, fights over mine control. Workers are often robbed of the gold they find, and the criminals vanish before we can catch them.”

Identifying suspects is nearly impossible. Everyone wears heavy layers of clothes, scarves, and masks to combat the cold — disguises that also protect criminals from recognition.

As Zazza explored further, he stumbled upon a chilling sight: a sign outside a mining zone that read —

“Private Property – Metallurgical Mining Cooperative. Shoot-to-Kill Order. Do Not Stop.”

It wasn’t an empty threat. Police confirmed that armed guards and snipers protect the area, authorized by private mining companies rather than the government.

“You can’t enter,” an officer warned him. “You can’t make a mistake.”

In La Rinconada, corporate power often surpasses the reach of the state, and the concept of justice bends to the rules of survival.

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A City That Never Sleeps — Because It Can’t

Zazza had planned to stay overnight, but the locals’ warnings convinced him otherwise. “I’m too different,” he admitted. “Even if I try to blend in, I draw too much attention.”

Before leaving, he confessed that the experience had changed him:

“They wouldn’t let me enter anywhere. It was too dangerous. But I’ll remember this for the rest of my life.”

He left before nightfall — a wise decision, as many locals say the town becomes unrecognizable after dark. The mix of alcohol, desperation, and greed makes violence inevitable when the sun sets behind the peaks.

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The Harsh Beauty of Human Resilience

And yet, despite the fear and hardship, people continue to live in La Rinconada. They raise families, build homes from tin and wood, and pray that their next shovel of rock will contain gold.

For them, leaving is not an option. The promise of a better future, however distant, keeps them anchored to the frozen mountain. Children walk to school through icy mud, women sell coca tea to fight altitude sickness, and men descend daily into tunnels that could collapse at any moment.

It’s a cycle of survival — fueled by hope, poverty, and determination.

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A City of Contradictions

La Rinconada stands as a paradox: both a symbol of human ambition and a warning of its cost. It represents the extremes of what people will endure for wealth — and the resilience of those who refuse to give up, even when the world forgets them.

For outsiders, visiting La Rinconada feels like peering into another planet — one where oxygen is scarce, gold is king, and life hangs by a thread. For those who live there, every breath is an act of defiance against nature itself.

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A Cold Truth

In the end, the truth about La Rinconada is as frigid as its mountain air: it may be the highest place on Earth where humans live, but it’s also among the hardest places to survive. Visitors leave haunted by what they’ve seen. Locals stay, fighting for every heartbeat in a city where survival itself feels like a miracle.

La Rinconada is not just a city — it’s a living monument to human endurance, greed, and the thin line between hope and despair.