A YouTuber who visits some of the most dangerous places in the world describes a ‘lawless’ city as the closest thing to hell in a bleak video which was the ‘hardest’ he’s ever made
If there’s one destination that definitely won’t be making anyone’s bucket list in the near future, it’s a slum-like mining city in South America.
La Rinconada in Peru is notorious for its high rates of crime, including murder and sex trafficking, as well as its crippling poverty and deadly pollution.
It is also extremely hard to even breathe there because of the altitude of 5,100m or 3.2 miles above sea level. This didn’t put off one traveller, who shared his experiences with his followers on social media and dubbed the dark, filthy city the nearest thing to hell he’s ever come across.
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La Rinconada is often called ‘the lawless city of Peru’ and ‘Zazza The Italian’ discovered exactly why when he bravely, or foolishly, ventured to the South American gold mining town. He shared a video of his time in the depressingly colourless and bleak location as he tried to establish if it deserved the awful reputation it has.
He travelled from the nearby city of Juliaca on a three-hour minibus journey to make what he called “one of the most challenging recordings of my life”. When he arrived it was snowing and he described the extreme cold as “devastating”. His first impression as he walks along the rubbish strewn streets is that it resembles “an entire, immense slum”.
He sees kids cooking at the side of the road and later reveals that fewer than 30% attend school because they’re forced to work from a very young age. Many wander the streets and are forced into child prostitution.
Feeling breathless and dizzy due to it being the highest permanent human settlement in the world, he visits the very basic health centre to see if he can get some help. There is half the amount of oxygen in every breath taken of the thin air here than at sea level and the town is the global capital of chronic mountain sickness (CMS). At least one in four residents are estimated to suffer from the condition. If left untreated it can lead to heart failure and death.
One of the medical workers tells him to keep chewing coca leaves . They contain cocaine and act as a mild stimulant when they’re chewed or made into tea. He’s also advised to take aspirin. She tells Zazza she works at the remote spot because there’s a lot of sick people there and therefore more work for her. “Here they kill each other… in shootings because they’re often drunk and angry,” she adds.
Within an hour of being in La Rinconada, her words ring true as he hears gunshots. Wearing a bullet proof vest for protection from weapons as well as the cold he ventures back out onto the eerily quiet and dark streets where it’s raining heavily. He attempts to talk to locals, who give one word answers to his questions or turn their backs. He’s told by a market trader that the people are very closed off and there’s a “terrible vibe… brutal”. He’s also advised against recording because of thefts.
Despite this he heads away from the main street where he comes across a man hacking through the soaking wet dirt on the street searching for any waste from the mine that may contain a tiny fragment of gold. He says he does it to try and buy food for his family and because there isn’t much work.
Until 2003 La Rinconada was a small village without miners. But that year there was a gold rush and many people started moving there. Zazza claims there’s now 50,000 inhabitants, of which 70% are men and the rest women. It was after the gold rush that things in the town became murkier, stealing started and people became wary of reprisals.
When he comes across an uncharacteristically friendly group of men and one woman sitting drinking after work they shed more light on the situation for him – after he’s bought them more beer. They claim the work there is illegal. They also explain that they work a month without pay and then a week for themselves when they are able to keep what they find, which often is minimal. “You can work for free and just move on,” one says.
The tipsy workers also discuss the pollution which comes from the mining process. The mercury which is used to treat the ore has contaminated the nearby glacier and drinking water which is piped around the town. It “drives people mad” one of them tells him.
There is little plumbing or sanitation but there are lots of public toilets in the streets. Zazza watches as numerous prostitutes go into them with drunk clients. There’s also human excrement, bottles of alcohol and hundreds of rubbish bags lining the streets because there’s no refuse collection due to the remote location. and lack of government services
As he witnesses many people staggering around the streets under the influence he reflects on why they have hit the bottle. “It’s sad to see so many drunk people,” he says. “The only way to escape the hell is to drink, that’s why it’s so dangerous because they don’t even know what they’re doing.”
Realising he is drawing attention to himself and believing he’s being followed, he asks for assistance at the local police station. Two officers accompany him on a tour out of the main centre and into the more dangerous areas. They reveal the most common crimes in the town are armed robbery and assault. They also say there’s a territorial issue inside the mine where clashes and disputes over control occur. One officer explains that criminals pose as miners, rob pedestrians and steal belongings that workers earn in the mines – then leave and hide somewhere else.
They also discuss the alcohol issue and say it’s custom to drink a lot there. Bizarrely they claim that local legend says if they find gold in the mines they have to spend it on vice – so alcohol, tobacco, prostitution. If they use it on their families, they will be mocked. Apparently the mentality that vice is almost positive has been instilled in them.
As they walk out of the town they enter the deadly areas where the mines are located and where it’s too dangerous even for the police at night. Private security firms are authorised to carry firearms but there are also criminals who carry weapons too. They come across a sign which reads, “shoot to kill order, do not stop” and Zazza is informed there are snipers located on the glacier who will kill you if you stay too long. One of the officers says, “you can’t enter, you can’t make a mistake”, but confirms it’s still illegal to take another human life. He says the mine owners put the signs up but it’s too difficult to catch the snipers.
Pondering how the human body can endure such squalid conditions, Zazza says: “If I think of hell, I believe this place comes pretty close.” He also reveals it has been the hardest video of his life to make so far but says he wanted to stay at night and try to address the issue of child prostitution that is very present there. However he realised he wouldn’t gain access to any areas he needed to because he was too different and it would be too dangerous.
“What levels of desperation must you reach to do something like this?” he asks. “Living in these absurd conditions, far from your family, without oxygen, poisoned by mercury. My God, these people must come from situations literally at the edge.”
