Explorer shares his ‘scariest travel experience’ after spending 24 hours in world’s highest town
If you've ever wondered what it's like in the world's highest town, this man has gone there for you.
Intrepid explorer and YouTuber Ammar Kandil is co-founder of successful travel channel Yes Theory, and recently released a video of his trip to the unique destination.
The town, which is said to be home to as many as 50,000 people, sits at around 16,700ft above sea level, meaning those who live there have to deal with its low air pressure.
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It's said that around 25 percent of residents suffer with hypoxia - a state in which oxygen is not available in sufficient amounts at the tissue level to maintain adequate homeostasis.
But away from the concerning health impacts of living in the town - called La Rinconada, located in Peru - is it's 'lawless' community.
In the short documentary that was released on the Yes Theory YouTube last month, Ammar hailed the trip as one of his riskiest to date.
The town is situated in the Andes and one minute Ammar had panoramic views, and the next he was surrounded by trash bags.
"From just gorgeous views on the way up and then just this sea of trash everywhere," he mused.
"I mean that's what happens when 50,000 people settle somewhere they're not supposed to without the infrastructure necessary for them to be able to live there and with just illegal mining activity everywhere. Dude, this breaks my heart."
When he arrives in La Rinconada, Ammar learns that there's only three hot showers available in the whole town.
Meanwhile, due to its mining, the town's water is heavily contaminated with mercury.
Ammar gets chatting to a friendly local miner in the documentary, who shares that he thinks that as much as 1kg of gold is mined each day. This is worth approximately $75,000.
But the miners are unlikely to see any of this cash for themselves. Most miners work on the mines that are owned by Corporación Ananea and, under the cachorreo system, they work 30 days without payment in return for working one day for themselves.
On that single day, they're able to take home as more ore they're able to carry - but the other 30 days everything goes back to Corporación Ananea.
In 2018, it was said that Corporacion Minera Ananea exported about $1.2 million of unspecified goods to Switzerland.
6.8 million fine grams of gold that were produced that year, Reuters reported.
Despite the poor working conditions, the prospect of finding gold for themselves attractions thousands of people to La Rinconada.
Meanwhile, under the cover of night, the town is said to become increasingly dangerous.
Chatting to one local, Ammar discovers that he witnessed someone get shot just two weeks ago.
If the high crime levels don't kill you in La Rinconada, then it's likely that its 'toxic' water and pollution that surrounds the residents will.
Topics: Travel, World News, YouTube
Niamh Shackleton