It sounds like something straight out of a dystopian Netflix series: a gold-mining town perched in the clouds, riddled with danger, lawlessness, and the harshest extremes of human survival.
But La Rinconada isn’t fiction. It’s very real and, according to those who’ve been there, it’s as wild as it sounds.
Sitting a staggering 5,100 meters (that’s over 16,700 feet) above sea level, La Rinconada in Peru holds the title of the highest permanent human settlement on Earth. It’s a town that scrapes the sky, and pushes human endurance to the edge.
Oxygen is scarce. Temperatures are brutal. And law and order? Let’s just say, it’s more suggestion than structure.
A YouTuber who documented their journey into the town described it as “as close to a lawless place as it gets.” And after seeing what life looks like in this remote, gold-hungry settlement, it’s not hard to see why.
La Rinconada is built on gold, literally. The town lies next to a lucrative gold mine, and most of the people who live there are miners. But much of the mining that takes place isn’t officially regulated. It’s what’s known as “informal” mining, a term that often skirts dangerously close to “illegal.”
During the visit, the filmmaker spoke to a local miner who, despite the language barrier, didn’t hold back in his description: “Dangerous,” he called it. But for many, the risk is worth the reward. It’s one of the few places where people can still strike gold, if they survive long enough to find it.
The visitor described the town as a magnet for society’s outsiders. “I think they just end up gravitating towards a place like this, where you end up with some pretty rough personalities,” he explained.
During their overnight stay, both he and his cameraman were issued security instructions – a clear sign that danger wasn’t just a possibility, but a genuine concern. Especially after dark.
As the sun went down, the atmosphere in La Rinconada shifted. What was already a tough environment became downright ominous.
“You’re torn between such extremes,” he recalled. “Waking up at the bottom of a glacier, seeing the most beautiful view, but then, being up during the night and hearing what was going on in the town.”
Gunshots. Screaming. Shattered glass. The beauty of the Peruvian Andes colliding with the darkness of human desperation.
“It’s a weird paradox,” he added. “Being in one of the most beautiful places on Earth, but also seeing the worst of what people can do to it.”
La Rinconada is not a tourist destination. It’s a place where survival trumps safety, and dreams of gold come with a heavy cost. And for those brave enough to visit, it’s a jarring look at life in a town that lives on the edge, both literally and metaphorically.
