we're happy to send you some reminders Click 'OK' then 'Allow' to enable notifications Home> News> World News A bloke who braved a visit to a terrifying town which he dubbed the 'most inhumane place on Earth' explained it was the 'hardest' thing he has ever done And after seeing what harsh realities of life in La Rinconada, Peru, the YouTuber was confronted with during his trip you'll understand why he isn't in a rush to return Content creator 'Zazza the Italian' is on a mission to explore some of the most 'dangerous neighbours in the world' hence why he headed on a mini-break to the run down gold mining town Sitting at 5,100 metres above sea level, the town is the highest permanent settlement in the world - so as well as watching out for unsavoury characters you've got to be wary of the altitude too Zazza made a three-hour journey to the area from the city of Juliaca telling viewers he had been warned his destination was 'dangerous' and 'off-limits' to tourists - and soon after arriving he found out exactly why La Rinconada has such a fearsome reputation As well as the fact that he immediately found it 'hard to breathe' due to the altitude, Zazza explained that the freezing temperatures were 'devastating' Sharing his initial thoughts on the town, the social media star told the camera: "It’s practically an entire and they say that [above] 5,000 meters is no longer suitable for human life As he began to explore the Peruvian town, Zazza explained that the majority of the children who live there don't attend school as they are 'forced to work from a very young age' Men in La Rinconada work in the mines, extracting gold from the rocks with mercury, while the women are usually left looking for scraps or forced to turn to prostitution "Many people started moving here until today In the footage from his visit to La Rinconada a young woman was then seen holding hands with an older man before they both entered a public bathroom What you just saw was a girl prostituting herself "She approached him saying: 'Hi love how are you?' The guy was quite drunk." the streets of the town were littered with 'mountains and mountains of garbage' and 'human excrement' He also explained that he had been advised to wear a balaclava to both protect himself from the cold and to provide a degree of protection from the excessive air pollution Locals weren't too keen on Zazza thrusting a camera in their faces with one person explaining: "It’s just that here Fair enough - especially as the job prospects in La Rinconada are so dire but are made to work without pay for 30 days - before they are then granted 24 hours to themselves where they get to keep any gold they found "These are people who work very hard, very hard, 10-12 hours a day," Zazza said. "And the only way to escape this hell, so to speak, is to drink." After growing concerned for his safety as nightfall drew closer, Zazza was then accompanied by a pair of police officers, who shared some more information about life in the town The duo explained that there is a lot of crime in La Rinconada There’s a territorial issue inside the mine steal belongings that workers earn in the mines But finding these criminals is ridiculously difficult as the cops explained that because people are 'bundled up' with layers because of the cold I believe this place comes pretty close," Zazza said before explaining that the officers then took him to 'one of the most dangerous areas in all of Rinconada' It’s the most apocalyptic scene I’ve seen in my entire life." The officers explained that the area is patrolled by private security who are authorised to carry firearms - before Zazza then stumbled on a sinister sign close to what he believed was an abandoned gold mine It displayed a stern warning which read: "Private property Zazza explained: "If you stay at this spot in the late afternoon or evening for too long snipers are constantly keeping lookout and are ready to take aim if they spot any trespassers you can’t make a mistake," one said before Zazza noted that the 'shoot-to-kill order' wasn't government sanctioned a policy that was invented by the mine owners When asked if it was 'illegal to kill someone for stealing' Zazza said it had been the 'hardest video' he has ever filmed "I wanted to stay at night...but I’m too different it’s been an experience I’ll remember all my life." Topics: Crime, World News, YouTube, Environment Olivia is a journalist at LADbible Group with more than five years of experience and has worked for a number of top publishers, including News UK. She also enjoys writing food reviews (as well as the eating part). She is a stereotypical reality TV addict, but still finds time for a serious documentary. InstagramXThreadsSnapchatTikTokYouTubeLAD Entertainment Please enable JS and disable any ad blocker A surfer whose identity and age are currently unknown died while surfing in Rinconada de Cobquecura Apparently a fishing boat collided with the surfer Authorities are currently investigating the exact circumstances of the accident to determine responsibility and prevent future incidents This accident has caused shock and sadness in the community and has reminded the community of the importance of taking extreme precautions when engaging in water activities Surfers and crew are urged to respect safety regulations and be aware of their surroundings to avoid accidents,” it added we send our most sincere condolences to the family and friends of the deceased surfer May they find comfort and strength to overcome this difficult situation The surfing community reaffirms its commitment to safety in the water and requests that there be a substantial improvement in the procedures for boats entering and leaving the sea May this tragic accident serve as a call to reflection and prevention to avoid future losses,” he concludes A post shared by CANAL ÑUBLE TV (@canal_nuble_tv) Join the news democracyWhere your votes decide the Top 100 Reasons for you to sign up to our newsletter here La Rinconada sits some 17,000 feet above sea level Many of us suffer from altitude sickness if we so much as look at a mountain tens of millions of people across the world live thousands of feet above sea level Most of the world's highest-placed settlements can be found in South America with Wenquan in China sitting at a stomach-dropping 15,980 feet (4,870 metres) high However, even this pales in comparison to the remotest and loftiest of them all: a town tucked into the Peruvian Andes known as “Devil’s Paradise” Officially called La Rinconada, its 60,000-odd inhabitants live between 16,404 feet (5,000 metres) and 17,388 feet (5,300 metres) above sea level, making it the highest permanent settlement on the planet, as Live Science notes Residents must make do without running water garbage disposal and even a functioning sewage system and they’re forced to rely on food imported from lower altitude regions it took until the 2000s for electricity to finally be installed in the town would people choose to live there in the first place The town's commercial centre is not your average highstreet(iStock) La Rinconada started out as a temporary mining settlement more than 60 years ago and remains a controversial part of the industry The nickname “Devil’s Paradise” apparently derives from the town’s lawlessness and governance by “competing mafia mobs” In a piece for the Dissident Voice newsletter author Peter Koenig describes the “crime gang-run city” as “one of the most horrific places on earth.” “La Rinconada looks and smells like a wide-open garbage dump infested by a slowly meandering yellowish-brownish mercury-contaminated brew – tailings from illegal gold mining – what used to be a pristine mountain lake,” Koenig writes oxygen-poor air is loaded with mercury vapour that slowly penetrates people’s lungs often leading to paralysis and early death [The] average life expectancy of a mine worker is 30-35 years about half of Peruvian’s average life expectancy.” “human rights do not exist in Rinconada” and people can be killed for “carrying a rock that may contain some tiny veins of gold.” child labour and prostitution are “commonplace” He goes on: “The dream of getting rich in the goldmine makes them accept the most horrendous working and living conditions: surviving in an open dump-ground of everything most of the year sub-freezing temperatures –trash and debris everywhere.” Koenig notes that some stay “temporarily” – between six months and two years La Rinconada's gold miners work gruelling hours and often aren't paid and just stepping foot in the town poses significant problems Anyone who wasn’t born at high altitude and ventures to such heights will notice their breathing and heart rates quickly rising This is because less oxygen is available in the air meaning the lungs and heart need to work harder "By the time you're at about 4,500 metres [14,763 ft] the same breath of air that you take here [at sea level] has about 60 per cent of the oxygen molecules so that's a big stress," Cynthia Beall an anthropologist at Case Western Reserve University in Ohio Some people also develop a condition called acute mountain sickness (AMS) after about a week or two at high altitude a person's heart and breathing rates typically begin to drop as the body begins to make more red blood cells and haemoglobin to compensate for the low oxygen levels And those who settle down in places like La Rinconada show an amazing capacity to adapt to these tough conditions "There's pretty good evidence from around the world that there are either slight or very large increases in lung volume for people who are exposed to high altitude particularly before adolescence," Beall said tend to have a high concentration of haemoglobin in their blood which makes their blood thicker And whilst this allows them to carry more oxygen in their blood it also means that they are at risk of developing a condition called chronic mountain sickness (CMS) which occurs when the body produces an excess of red blood cells CMS afflicts people who live at altitudes higher than 10,000 feet (3,050 metres) for months or years and causes symptoms including fatigue Around a quarter of La Rinconada’s inhabitants are estimated to suffer from CMS The best treatment for CMS is simply to descend to a lower altitude an associate professor of medicine at the University of California the alternative is to perform regular bloodletting and take a drug called acetazolamide the long-term safety and effectiveness of these treatments remain unknown Sign up for our free Indy100 weekly newsletter How to join the indy100's free WhatsApp channel Click the upvote icon at the top of the page to help raise this article through the indy100 rankings Metrics details Permanent residence at high-altitude and chronic mountain sickness (CMS) may alter the cerebrovascular homeostasis and orthostatic responses Healthy male participants living at sea-level (LL; n = 15) 3800 m (HL3800m; n = 13) and 5100 m (HL5100m; n = 17) and CMS highlanders living at 5100 m (n = 31) were recruited Middle cerebral artery mean blood flow velocity (MCAv) heart rate variability and spontaneuous cardiac baroreflex sensitivity (cBRS) were assessed while sitting Cerebral autoregulation index (ARI) was estimated (ΔMCAv%baseline)/ΔMAP%baseline) in response to the orthostatic challenge Altitude and CMS were associated with hypoxemia and elevated hemoglobin concentration MCAv and LFpower negatively correlated with altitude but were not affected by CMS altitude and CMS correlated with a lesser ΔMAP while ARI remained unaffected CDO2 and cBRS remained preserved across altitudes The LF/HF ratio increased in HL5100m compared to LL and HL3800m from sitting to standing CMS showed blunted autonomic nervous activation in responses to standing Despite altitude- and CMS-associated hypoxemia erythrocytosis and impaired blood pressure regulation (CMS only) cerebral homeostasis remained overall preserved for the interpretation and contextuation of revealed differences in the cerebrovascular homestasis and reactivity comparisons of ethnically matched control groups living at different altitudes is paramount especially when investigating the adaptation of Andeans a genetically adapted high-altitude population the purpose of the current study was to investigate the cerebrovascular homeostasis and reactivity in relation to the living altitude of Andean male highlanders and to elucidate the role of CMS on its functionality present impaired cerebrovascular homeostasis and reactivity in comparison to highlanders at 3800 m and lowlanders; and that (2) in highlanders at 5100 m CMS compared to non-CMS further deteriorates cerebrovascular homeostasis and reactivity The study was approved by the ethics committee of the Universidad National Mayor de San Marcos (CIEI-2019-002) and was performed in accordance with the Declaration of Helsinki Participants in all three locations were recruited through street and radio advertisements and word of mouth permanently living (i) in Lima at < 1000 m (SL) (ii) in Puno at 3800 m (HL3800m) or (iii) La Rinconada at 5100–5300 m (HL5100m) without any regular intake of medication and no documented medical history of cardiorespiratory or neurological diseases were included in this study All participants gave their written informed consent prior to participation in this study and all participants had clinical examinations assessing heart rate blood pressure and arterial oxygen saturation (SpO2) Hemoglobin concentration ([Hb]; HemoCue Hb201 +  Sweden) was determined from a cubital venous blood sample while the patients were resting in the supine position and prior to the experimental procedur highlanders completed the Qinghai CMS questionnaire as described above Participants remained seated in a comfortable chair for at least 10 min participants were given a count down and instructed to stand up in one steady move within 1 s without any assistance from their arms They subsequently kept this upright position for 3 more minutes Red shaded areas indicate the 2.5-min intervals for heart rate variability and cardiac baroreflex sensitivity assessments Gray shaded areas indicate the 30-s intervals for other physiological measurements Continuous beat-by-beat blood pressure was measured by finger cuff photoplethysmography (ADInstruments Oxford UK) and oxygen saturation by finger pulse oximetry throughout the test The changes in the vertical distance between the hand and the heart were accounted for by the height correction unit non-invasive blood pressure monitor analogue signals were sampled and continuously recorded at 1 kHz using an analogue to digital converter (Powerlab/16SP ML795 and stored for offline analysis (Chart version 7.2.2 Sitting values were analyzed in the last 30 s of the 5-min baseline period (except HRV and cBRS – see below) The effect of the orthostatic challenge was assessed by identifying and averaging a 1-s interval around the nadir of the sMCAvand MAP Standing values were analyzed in the last 30 s of the 3 min standing period (except HRV and cBRS – see below) higher ARI values represent larger MAP-induced MCAv fluctuations corresponding to impaired CA whereas smaller values in ARI correspond to efficient CA The HF band was post-hoc extended from an upper limit of 0.40 Hz to 0.60 Hz and to address for chronic hyperventilation observed in highlanders at 5100 m This extension allowed to compare HF activity between all altitudes cBRS was calculated for lag 0 and 1 of the PI interval and the lag with the largest number of valid sequences was included in the analysis Main outcomes of interest were the cerebrovascular indices while sitting, in response to the orthostatic challenge and while standing for 3 min (Fig. 1) in relation to the altitude of residence and CMS severity Additional outcomes were obtained from cBRS and HRV analyses giving insights into the mechanisms and allowing a comprehensive interpretation of the main outcomes This study being part of the larger research program falling under the umbrella of Expedition 5300 therefore no formal sample size estimation was performed for this substudy Demographic characteristics are presented as mean ± standard deviation (SD) whereas values and their precision obtained from regression analyses are presented in mean ± standard error (SE) To analyse absolute and percentage changes from baseline values of continuous outcomes linear mixed regression analyses were applied with the dependent variable in absolute number or in percent from baseline Dependent variables were tested for normality (Shapiro Wilk test) and visually verified with Kernel density plots Independent variables were altitude (sea level mild and moderate to severe) and intervention (sitting and the interaction between altitude*intervention*CMS severity as fixed effects and participants as random effects Statistical significance was assumed with P values < 0.05 and when the 95% confidence intervals of the mean difference did not include zero (STATA 16 Among a total of 76 male participants included in this study, 15 were SL, 13 HL3800m and 48 were highlanders living at 5100 m, respectively. Highlanders at 5100 m had been living in La Rinconada for 15 ± 8 years, and 17 (35%) were categorized as HL5100m, 11 (23%) CMSmild and 20 (42%) CMSmod.-sev., respectively (Table 1) All participants had similar anthropometric characteristics (height and weight) but HL5100m were significantly older and had elevated hemoglobin than HL3800m and SL groups Frequency domain analysis of the HRV revealed altitude-dependent decrements in LF (P = 0.005 between HL5100m vs a trend in lower HF power (P = 0.123 between HL5100m vs SL) and unchanged LF/HF ratio (P = 0.383 between HL5100m vs Cardiac BRS was similar across all altitudes In contrast cBRS was markedly reduced in CMSmod.-sev The calculated ARI expressed as Δ%sMCAv/Δ%MAP and Δ%sMCAv/ΔmmHg MAP were similar in those groups Physiological changes while standing expressed in percentage from sitting values in healthy lowlanders and highlanders Panel (A) heart rate; Panel (B) middle cerebral artery peak blood flow velocity; Panel (C) cardiac baroreflex sensitivity; Panel (D) normalized low frequency power; Panel (E) normalized high frequency power; Panel (F) ratio between low frequency (LF) and high frequency (HF) Significant changes from resting are present when the 95% confidence interval does not include the value zero *P < 0.05 indicate significant different changes compared to lowlanders; ¶P < 0.05 indicate significant different changes compared to highlanders at 3800 m Physiological changes while standing expressed in percentage from sitting in highlanders living at 5100 m #P < 0.05 indicate significant different changes compared to highlanders without CMS; †P < 0.05 indicate significant different changes compared to highlanders with mild CMS This comprehensive study assessed for the first time the cerebrovascular homeostasis at three different altitudes and in highlanders with different CMS scores severity they employed transfer function analysis to investigate static CA while resting quietly phase and gain in the very low and low frequency bands between highlanders and lowlanders based on the exaggerated oxidative-inflammatory nitrosative stress and corresponding decrease in vascular NO bioavailability combined with reduced CDO2 they concluded that the cerebrovascular function is impaired in highlanders compared to lowlanders while resting The differences between the cited study and our findings could be due to the chosen control group and the comparator for the definition of “normal” CA functionality an ethnically matched control group was chosen comparisons of CA functionality in Peruvian highlanders compared to Peruvian lowlanders was not influenced by any factors related to ethnicity examined orthostatic tolerance and hypotension by using head-up tilting in highlanders living in Cerro de Pasco (4338 m) and compared their results to Ethiopian highlanders and UK sea-level controls Andean highlanders had no drop in systemic blood pressure with tilting (114 mmHg supine to 116 mmHg while tilted for 20 min) whereas Ethiopian highlanders as well as the lowlanders had slight decrements in blood pressure also showed impaired autonomic cardiovascular activation in response to 20 min of 60 degree head-up tilting in Peruvian highlanders This was mainly shown by an absence of LF-increase and HF-decrease in response to tilting by using autoregressive monovariate model with automated time series analysis These results are in contrast with the present findings showing a normal rise in LF and drop in HF frequency after standing for 3 min compared to sitting The passive vs active nature of the tilt test the analysis method of the autonomic cardiovascular activity and more generally different study design between Gulli et al and the present work most likely contribute to the discrepancy in the results but further studies are required to clarify these cardiovascular responses indicating impaired CA functionality in Peruvian highlanders and methodological limitations (change in MCA diameter due to exogenous NO donor) this latter study did not separate analyses by CMS (4 out of 9 participants had CMS); therefore the authors could not conclude about the possible role of CMS in the impaired CA functionality despite no change in MAP with the orthostatic challenge the reduced sympathetic/parasympathetic activation has another origin we observed no change or even increased cBRS sensitivity in response to standing in CMS which suggests impaired blood pressure regulation it could be hypothesized that the failure to activate cBRS in highlanders with CMS might have resulted in the failure of the baroreflex to activate the classical autonomic nervous system as well as pathological alterations in several body functions These consequences might be the direct cause of the brain-pull maybe being the ultimate cause of CMS symptoms it is certain that without this “selfish” behaviour whether the observed changes in ventilatory systemic and autonomic cardiovascular activation are “beneficial” or “detrimental” differ by what should be more prioritized – the brain or the body one can notice that dwellers from La Rinconada were overall older than those residing at lower altitudes which could in and of itself influence cerebrovascular function the present results were not modified by the inclusion of age as covariate we showed in male residents without symptoms of CMS living at sea-level that the cerebral oxygen delivery and cerebrovascular reactivity are comparable during sitting and an orthostatic stress This was achieved by ventilatory compensation elevated sympathetic activation while standing and maintained blood pressure regulation through cardiac baroreflex function male highlanders with CMS showed comparable CDO2 and cerebral reactivity compared to highlanders living at 5100 m free of CMS was associated with highly excessive erythrocytosis absent of ventilatory compensation for severe hypoxemia impaired blood pressure regulation and impaired sympathetic/parasympathetic activation Whether these various pathological consequences developed due to CMS and maladaptation to chronic hypoxia or whether in some individuals the “selfish” brain under chronic oxygen deprivation caused the observed CMS symptoms and body dysfunction remains to be elucidated Data types: De-identified participant data Who can access the data: Anonymized data underlying this study can be requested by qualified researchers providing an approved proposal Spontaneous cardiac baroreflex sensitivity Highlanders with mild chronic mountain sickness Highlanders with moderate-to-severe chronic mountain sickness Middle cerebral artery blood flow velocity Arterial oxygen saturation assessed by finger oximetry The physiologic basis of high-altitude diseases Pathophysiology and epidemiology of chronic mountain sickness León-Velarde, F. et al. 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Rev. 28, 143–180. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.neubiorev.2004.03.002 (2004) Download references This study was supported by the Fonds de dotation AGIR pour les maladies chroniques and by the French National Research Agency (ANR-12-TECS-0010) in the framework of the Investissements d’avenir programme (ANR-15-IDEX-02) Schweizerischer Nationalfonds zur Förderung der Wissenschaftlichen Forschung Swiss University of Traditional Chinese Medicine Laboratoire Interuniversitaire de Biologie de la Motricité (LIBM) EA7424 Team « Vascular Biology and Red Blood Cell » Drafting of the manuscript: Furian and Brugniaux Critical revision of the manuscript for important intellectual content: All authors The authors declare no competing interests Springer Nature remains neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in published maps and institutional affiliations Download citation DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-024-68389-5 Anyone you share the following link with will be able to read this content: a shareable link is not currently available for this article Sign up for the Nature Briefing: Anthropocene newsletter — what matters in anthropocene research Home> Entertainment> YouTube Featured Image Credit: YouTube/ZAZZA THE ITALIANTopics: YouTube, Travel, Viral A content creator went and checked out the closest inhabited place to the sky on Earth and all we can say is we're glad it wasn't us La Rinconada, in Peru, is believed to be the highest city in the world the locals are living with only 50 percent of the usual oxygen levels It's thought that their bodies have evolved to produce two times more blood cells than ours Well, if that hasn't sold it to you, then here's Zazza the Italian who has explored one of the most 'dangerous neighbours in the world' Following a three-hour journey from the city of Juliaca he told viewers that the destination was 'dangerous' and 'off-limits' to tourists The run-down gold mining town is full of criminals who are 'dressed as miners' then leave and hide," a policeman in the video explained "People who stay on the margins of the mines make the work of the officers very difficult I think because there isn’t much entertainment these are the only moments to forget a bit about how tough it is to work here The policeman explained that the people of La Rinconada who rob from the miners will do so to spend their money on alcohol and drugs It bizarrely ties in with the local tradition of finding gold easier 'when you're drunk' "Yes, apart from that, it’s a custom here. If they drink there are small statues at the entrance of the mine "The legend says that if they find gold they have to spend that money on vice." Home> Community A town up in the sky with ‘no laws’ and illegal mining practically sounds like the set of some kind of gritty drama series But instead of being the basis of a new Netflix series Sitting at 5,100m above sea level, the Peruvian town is the highest permanent human settlement in the world While there are some laws and regulations there, the place is basically described as being ‘lawless’ with high levels of crime And a man who visited La Rinconada documented what he came across as they experienced a small part of what life is like in the highest town on Earth Giving us an insight during a YouTube documentary they said it’s ‘essentially as close to a lawless town as it gets’ and the majority of those there are miners some of the mining that goes on isn’t exactly official and generally regarded as ‘informal mining’ – which you might interpret some of to be illegal During the documentary they met a miner who spoke enough English to describe La Rinconada as ‘dangerous’ but they still head there to be able to get work the man described the town as a place for ‘the outcasts of society’ “I think they just end up gravitating towards a place like this where you end up with some pretty rough personalities,” he said the man and his cameraman were given ‘security instructions’ as there was concern they would have been marked ‘as a target’ It was particularly for the evening when it would all ‘completely change’ Having struggled with the oxygen levels and the ‘sketchiness’ of the place they reflected on the ‘very intense experience’ of spending time in la Rinconada He explained it was ‘torn between just such extremes’ “Like waking up at the bottom of a glacier seeing the most beautiful view but being up during the night and hearing what was going on in the town,” he described he described it as: “Being in one of the most beautiful places that you can be on our planet but also seeing the worst of what human beings can do to our planet.” Topics: Weird, Documentaries, Travel, YouTube, World News Jess is a Senior Journalist with a love of all things pop culture Her main interests include asking everyone in the office what they're having for tea waiting for a new series of The Traitors and losing her voice at a Beyoncé concert She graduated with a first in Journalism from City A man who visited the highest city on Earth with 'no laws' got front row seats to see some crime happening At 5,100 metres above sea level, the gold mining town of La Rinconada, Peru, is the highest permanent settlement in the world However, all that glitters is not gold and the place has a reputation for being a rather lawless part of the world If you want to know what it's like in this city in the clouds you don't even have to go there yourself because someone already has and took lots of footage A YouTube documentary on La Rinconada had the visitors describe it as 'the sketchiest place' they'd ever been saying they saw fights breaking out all over the place The man who visited the city found that many people were friendly but it was still 'one of the most intense places' he'd ever been to YouTuber Ammar and his cameraman Cory were given 'security instructions' during their stay in La Rinconada as there were concerns that they'd otherwise be marked as a target They were warned particularly about what would happen at night being told that the town would 'completely change' Describing the highest city on Earth as 'essentially as close to a lawless town as it gets' they explained that people coming to work in La Rinconada would work without pay for 30 days and then get one day to themselves where they got to keep any gold they found While some of the scenery there was 'beautiful' the town is located at the foot of a glacier and there were 'kind locals' who helped guide the pair of men through an unfamiliar environment the documentary also showed how quickly things could turn Locals told Ammar that a couple of weeks before he spoke to them they saw a man shot dead a few streets away When cameraman Cory stepped out at night to get some shots of the streets of La Rinconada in the dark he soon decided to head back inside after someone tried to rob him Throughout the night they could hear gunshots and screams and when filming from the window of their hotel room the next morning Ammar said they'd seen three fights right outside in half an hour In the documentary they showed two men squaring up to each other as two men started hitting each other in the head in the middle of the day with nobody to step in and stop them The guys decided that was probably their cue to leave Topics: YouTube, Documentaries, World News, Crime, Travel Joe graduated from the University of Salford with a degree in Journalism and worked for Reach before joining the LADbible Group. When not writing he enjoys the nerdier things in life like painting wargaming miniatures and chatting with other nerds on the internet. He's also spent a few years coaching fencing. Contact him via [email protected] The event will take place at the Hacienda de Santa Cruz in the Seville municipality the markets and various agronomic issues will be analyzed is holding the 2nd Agroprofessional Potato Meeting in La Rinconada on Friday the forecasts for a campaign that begins with a focus on rainfall This is an experiential event where we will also learn about the work of some of the local potato companies Andalusia is the autonomous community with the third largest distribution of total potato land area It is also third in terms of total production The event will be a great opportunity for tuber professionals to gain a real-world as the program will feature some of the most authoritative voices in the sector The “invisible superheroes” of agricultural land The day will begin with a visit to the Patatas Arrebola facilities followed by a presentation by Alejandro Sanz of Corteva who will present an innovative solution based on four strains of Bacillus selected after rigorous research which are revolutionizing the way we understand plant nutrition and crop sustainability and Bacillus velezensis—act together as true allies for the farmer Each strain has specific functions that complement each other to improve crop yield from the root "If we can unlock nutrients from the soil and increase root capacity thanks to these microorganisms will address one of the key topics of this campaign: downy mildew the fungal disease causing the most headaches this year titled "Mildew in potatoes and its impact in Spain with a focus on Seville," will analyze why this disease has become the main threat to potato crops The 2025 crop season has been marked by unfavorable weather conditions Persistent rains at key stages of the crop cycle have caused planting delays Moncosí will focus on how mildew has gained ground in fields throughout Spain where humidity and mild temperatures have created the perfect environment for its development he will focus on one of the major current challenges: the lack of effective tools to combat this disease "We have few resources and few active ingredients to control it That’s why it’s urgent to incorporate novel products that don’t generate resistance and are effective in difficult conditions," Moncosí points out The repetition of the same modes of action has generated resistance so he will advocate for strategies that integrate fungicides with innovative modes of action that are adaptable to climate change will talk about how to make sustainable agriculture profitable will give a presentation to make it clear that "the key is in the soil." there will be a panel discussion on the present and future of the sector The day will conclude with a visit to the Contagri company which received the 2025 National Sustainability Award we’ve been celebrating the Potato Festival to highlight this product coinciding with the start of the potato harvesting campaign we are constantly supporting our entrepreneurs and agricultural workers because the primary sector in general and potato cultivation in particular are priority areas for action." Seville stands out in Andalusia in terms of new potato production within the autonomous community as does La Rinconada within the province of Seville Of the 3,500 hectares of land that the province of Seville allocates to new potato cultivation an estimated 1,200 are located in La Rinconada which begins in late April and lasts until early July new potatoes can be purchased in most supermarkets and fruit stores both within and outside the municipality production in La Rinconada is expected to increase compared to 2024 thanks to the soil of the Guadalquivir Valley and the hours of sunshine available in the area Recibe todas las novedades en tu correo electrónico ArgentinaTeléfono (54-2266) 4-20703argenpapa@gmail.com A village at 11,480 feet (3,500 meters) in the Simien Mountains of Ethiopia Inhabitants of the world's highest settlement Worldwide, more than 80 million people live at least 8,202 feet (2,500 meters) above sea level at a staggering 15,980 feet (4,870 m) above sea level around 15,000 feet (4,572 m) above sea level.  However, one place towers above them all. Nestled in the Peruvian Andes is a town that is nicknamed "Devil's Paradise." Officially named La Rinconada its 50,000 inhabitants live between 16,404 feet (5,000 m) and 17,388 feet (5,300 m) above sea level making it the highest permanent settlement on Earth.  Life in La Rinconada is extremely difficult. There is no running water, sewage system or garbage disposal Food is imported from lower altitude regions and electricity was only installed in the town in the 2000s.  The town is known for gold mining, having started out as a temporary mining settlement more than 60 years ago But the price of gold is that inhabitants must live in extreme conditions with up to half the oxygen pressure that exists at sea level.  Related: Why is Mount Everest so deadly? If you were not born at high altitude and ventured to altitudes like that of La Rinconada, one of the first changes that you'd notice is your breathing rate and heart rate going up so the lungs and heart need to work harder to nourish tissues "By the time you're at about 4500 meters [14,763 ft], the same breath of air that you take here [at sea level] has about 60% of the oxygen molecules, so that's a big stress," Cynthia Beall a professor emerita of anthropology at Case Western Reserve University in Ohio At first, the percentage of hemoglobin — the protein within red blood cells that carries oxygen — in the blood would also plummet Some people may develop a condition called acute mountain sickness (AMS) as the body tries to adjust to lower oxygen levels Usually after about a week or two at high altitude a person's heart rate and breathing will quieten down slightly as the body begins to make more red blood cells and hemoglobin to compensate for the low oxygen levels in the air have seemingly adapted to low-oxygen environments in many ways.  "There's pretty good evidence from around the world that there are either slight or very large increases in lung volume for people who are exposed to high altitude particularly before adolescence," Beall said.  CMS can happen to people who live at altitudes higher than 10,000 feet (3,050 m) for many months or years and causes symptoms such as fatigue Around one in four people in La Rinconada are estimated to suffer from CMS.  although the safety and efficacy of these treatments in the long run is still unknown.  —How do we know when blood oxygen is too low? —What happens when a baby takes its first breath? —How long can the brain survive without oxygen? which scientists are now trying to investigate further.  Get the world’s most fascinating discoveries delivered straight to your inbox Legendary 'women of the sea' in South Korea freedive well into their 80s Scientists just discovered a single molecule that may treat rare August 1, 2019JPEG Tucked away in the eastern Andes Mountains about 5,000 meters (3 miles) above sea level the town of La Rinconada is the highest permanent settlement in the world The Peruvian town does not have running water Yet 50,000 people live here amidst the thin air for one valuable resource: gold The natural-color image above was acquired on August 1, 2019, by the Operational Land Imager on Landsat 8 around 650 kilometers (400 miles) from the Bolivian border The town is located on the side of Mount Ananea and below a giant glacier called La Bella Durmiente (meaning “Sleeping Beauty”) The town started as a temporary mining settlement more than four decades ago so no permanent city services (such as sanitation systems) were installed Male miners were allowed to spend up to thirty days at a time in the mine to collect as much gold as they could The miners received no wage while in the mine but there were also no restrictions on how much gold they could haul out Despite the poor working and living conditions, the population boomed in the 2000s when the market price for gold increased. From 2000 to 2009, the population of La Rinconada reportedly increased by 230 percent. Electricity was finally installed in the 2000s Residents either burn or bury their trash outside of city limits Besides the prospectors, the town also attracts researchers interested in studying the short-term and long-term effects of oxygen-poor conditions on humans The thin air—each breath draws in half the amount of oxygen as at sea level—can lead to a syndrome called chronic mountain sickness (CMS) Researchers estimate one in four people in La Rinconada suffer from CMS NASA Earth Observatory image by Lauren Dauphin, using Landsat data from the U.S. Geological Survey View this area in EO Explorer but La Rinconada has one resource worth its weight this natural-color image shows Soccer City The Mongolian capital is spreading outward as migrants from the countryside fill neighborhoods on the fringes of the city This website is using a security service to protect itself from online attacks The action you just performed triggered the security solution There are several actions that could trigger this block including submitting a certain word or phrase You can email the site owner to let them know you were blocked Please include what you were doing when this page came up and the Cloudflare Ray ID found at the bottom of this page Eva Chura is one of the magpies of the mountain Living with their families in shacks in a gold shantytown in the Andes these women make a living gleaning gold from rubble They are called "pallaqueras" which roughly translates as 'gold-pickers.' Chura came 12 years ago from her hometown of Chupa in the Puno region to La Rinconada a settlement of around 50,000 which is believed to be the highest in the world Five of her eight children live with her in her corrugated zinc home and takes the baby with her when she goes scavenging It takes Chura an hour to reach the site where the women work light two cigarettes 'for the saints' and drink a little anise for luck The men of La Rinconada bar all women from the mines dug beneath the rock which is located below a glacier called La Bella Durmiente would be jealous and angry if women were to try to steal her riches the women take turns to scramble up onto piles of black scree that the men have dumped their keen eyes scanning the lumps for a glimmer of gold and take back to process and sell to black-market dealers whose stalls line La Rinconada's main street "In a week sometimes I can get 1 gram or 2 grams of gold," Chura said Black market prices vary but on the London market that would fetch $50 or $100 "If I'm lucky it can sometimes be 20 grams The quantities each woman collects are tiny but thousands of them are looking - some estimates say there are more than 15,000 pallaqueras in Peru Women and men alike risk their lives and subsist in squalor in the mountain's thin frigid air because he is no help as a father or a husband," she said She does get troubled – especially by the fact she has no support if ever anyone in the family falls sick "It is very sad to live with garbage and dirt The children give you strength and courage to work." She says those of her children who were born in La Rinconada aren't bothered by the conditions Now we have grounds to play football or volleyball." To extract gold from the rocks the men and women use mercury a toxin which they rinse with melted ice from the glacier The water flows down the mountain into pools Left: Miners stand on a large stone called a 'quimbalete' to break down rocks they collected from a gold mine to extract gold Right: A man uses water and mercury to separate and extract gold from a rock "The water used in mining is just dumped and all the communities downstream .. receive polluted water to support their livestock and crops," said Federico Chavarry environmental crimes prosecutor for the region "These same waters carry heavy metals directly to Lake Titicaca." Titicaca is the largest lake in South America a vital source of drinking water and fish for the surrounding population Waste from gold-processing adds to pollution by run-off from surrounding cities and untreated sewage named it the world's most threatened lake of the year The fragments of gold these people produce have made their way into supply chains of firms including phone makers and jewellers In 2018 a Swiss refinery that had been taking the metal for years stopped after Peruvian prosecutors alleged the company that collected it was a front for organised crime Chura and others in La Rinconada say the gold supply is running out in this area That's why so many ugly things happen," she said Miners have been shot dead in the tunnels; young women are trafficked into brothels; fights are common When police or other authorities come to town to try to enforce the law or restrict mining they have been threatened by miners with the dynamite used to blast open the tunnels The women join the protests too - some say the men force them to "They spend more time in the bars than working." "But I'm afraid of the things that might happen to her." To view Reuters special report click here. PHOTO EDITING Gabrielle Fonseca Johnson; writing Sara Ledwith; editing Janet McBride; LAYOUT JULIA DALRYMPLE The shadow of a miner is cast onto a rock as he enters a gold mine. Miners drink anise and chew coca leaves before a shift. A miner fills up a tube made from newspaper with dynamite powder to be used for setting off explosions inside a gold mine. Miners use a drilling machine to search for gold in a gold mine. Miners walk past a shrine as they make their way towards a gold mine. The shrine is intended to offer protection and security to those entering the mine, because of the dangerous conditions that these men are working in, often risking their lives. A miner chews coca leaves which are often used as a remedy to ward off altitude sickness. A woman hangs clothes up to dry by the entrance of her home. Men who work as miners play football in front of La Bella Durmiente glacier. A miner is treated by Doctor Nelson and a nurse for a head injury that he says he received from thieves attempting to steal gold from him, at a health centre. A miner has his hair cut at a hairdresser. A man sews a boiler-suit that will be used for other miners. A miner sits on his bed as he writes in a notebook in his room. A miner waits for a food vendor to cook him some chicken that he bought on a street. A miner has his photograph taken by a woman as he stands between a sign that reads 'duchas calientes' (hot showers) and a snowman. A boy poses for a photograph at the entrance of his school. A family visits the grave of a relative at a cemetery. Ilasaca gave me a look, slightly surprised, unimpressed. He grunted something that I took to be Quechua, or Aymara, for “Where the hell did you hear that?” I’d heard it from a sociologist in Puno, down on the Peruvian altiplano. Really, I was just trying to buy time. I was out of breath, and the steep trail below us was full of miners, descending and ascending. I doubted my ability to join the traffic flow and keep up—down slippery rocks, through icy mud, between frozen piles of garbage. But the gold mines I had said I wanted to see were all down this trail, in the valley between town and glacier. “Vamos,” Ilasaca said. He set off, hands in pockets. “When I first came to work here, this was all ice and snow,” Ilasaca said. We had reached the bottom of the Compuerta, I was sucking wind, and he was indicating the south wall of the upper valley, which is now bare rock pierced by mine shafts and pocked by slopes of scree. “In fifty years, all this may be gone, too.” He meant La Bella Durmiente, and the whole network of tropical glaciers above it. “Just once I’d like to be accepted for who I’m not.”Copy link to cartoonCopy link to cartoonLink copied Josmell Ilasaca began mining at twelve. “The mine is a killer,” he said. “A doctor told me I’ve spent too many years here already.”Josmell Ilasaca began mining at twelve. “The mine is a killer,” he said. “A doctor told me I’ve spent too many years here already.”||| We were eating dinner in a tiny, freezing second-floor restaurant in La Rinconada. I was having the Cuban plate—rice and a hot dog and a fried banana—and hot, sweet yerba-maté tea. Ilasaca, just off work, was eating more heartily, but I, after a sobering encounter with alpaca-tripe soup, had stopped simply following the dining lead of whomever I was with in La Rinconada. Eight thousand dollars in a month, he told me, proudly but quietly. He calculated a moment. About three thousand, he said. “The price was high then.” So had he found a single great chunk of gold, or a rare mass of flakes, on his one day a month of working for himself? Ilasaca shook his head. No. It was an ordinary day. He had pocketed a likely-looking rock, taken it to a traditional mill known as a quimbalete, and come away with a nugget that turned out to contain nearly a hundred grams of gold—more than three ounces. Did the mineowner not claim the gold as his own? Ilasaca shook his head. The owner didn’t know about it. He probably heard about it later, but he could hardly begrudge one of his best workers his stroke of luck. “Es mi suerte.” I asked Ilasaca if he made payments to Awicha. At times, Ilasaca sounded nostalgic for the days of child labor. He worked during his school vacations, three months a year, until he finished high school and moved full time to La Rinconada. He remembers watching outdoor screenings of “Rambo” with his dad. “Now everybody has their own TV,” he said. Ilasaca’s father left La Rinconada eight years ago. “But he worked too long,” Ilasaca said. “His health was destroyed.” He looked at me evenly. “The mine is a killer.” Even as Ilasaca insisted on the primacy of luck, he didn’t strike me as a gambler. Luck just didn’t seem to be his personal guiding light. He was more hardheaded than that. Had he always wanted to be a gold miner? No way, he said. He started only because his father was mining. “When I was sixteen, I didn’t want to go back to the mine,” he said. “I had been going since I was twelve. It was so sad. There was so much suffering. It was so cold. I did a police course instead that year. I passed the course. I wanted to be a policeman. But then they tested my eyes, and I was nearsighted, so the police wouldn’t take me. So I went back to the mine.” At eighteen, he began working full time for his uncle Hugo, who was a contractor in La Rinconada. “I worked for my uncle for three and a half years,” he said. “I did almost every job. Mechanic, perforator, cleanup. We never found any gold. It was a crew of thirty. It was very difficult. We had no luck. My uncle paid me just enough to live. I finally had to leave.” Ilasaca took me on a hike, over the ridge above La Rinconada. In the next valley, under the first glacier east of La Bella Durmiente, was a large modern mine. It had big sheds, parking lots full of trucks and heavy equipment, its own mill, its own access road. On one of the roofs, painted in huge white letters, was written “TITaN”—the name of Percy Torres’s company. The next heir, or heiress, to the fortune was Iván’s younger sister, Rocío, who quickly bought a large ranch in Spain, known for its fighting bulls, and is said to have left the family business to professional managers. “I need paper,” Ilasaca said. “These are facts, not myths.” I loaned him a pen and a notebook, and he filled pages with obscure information. I understood none of it. Cariño ended his conversation with Ilasaca with an oath that echoed my thoughts: “Chino, I hope the gold price falls and the mines close and we all move to towns where we don’t have to live like animals!” Ilasaca and I repaired to a tiny storefront bar to drink beer. He was thrilled with all he had learned about the early business dealings of his hero. It wasn’t that he dreamed of being the next Percy Torres. He didn’t have that sort of talent—or luck. He just admired Percy’s canniness and persistence, his great rise in the world, his courage and independence. “But I have to get out of the mine,” Ilasaca said. “A doctor told me I’ve spent too many years here already. The altitude changes your blood. It damages your brain. The dust and smoke in the mine destroy your lungs. Living up here is bad for relationships. Four or five more years, that’s all I need. The mine I work in now is good. There’s gold. I just need to save enough to capitalize a business.” Ilasaca had tried to live with his former girlfriend in her home town, Abancay, after their daughter was born. It didn’t work, he said, on any level. He found jobs—in construction, as a driver—but the pay was hopelessly low. “In Peru, you have to own something,” he said. “That’s why we risk our lives in the mine. So we can help our families and then have decent lives after we finish with the mine.” I got permission, not through Ilasaca, to enter the mine where he works. Mario Ayamamani, the owner of the concession, escorted me to the rockface. The day’s dynamiting and high-pressure drilling had been completed hours before, so the air inside the mine was relatively free of smoke and dust. Still, I gladly used a half-mask respirator someone handed me, and took hits of medical oxygen from a cannister I had brought from Juliaca, and chewed coca. The demand side of gold fever is almost the opposite story. The enormous new Chinese middle class drives much of the growing world market for gold jewelry. Indians are also buying significantly more gold each year. Jewelry accounts, altogether, for three-quarters of the global market for newly mined gold. The remainder goes to industry and to investors in bars and coins. Jhonny showed me the coat. It was cleverly designed. I lost track of Ilasaca. He got paid on cachorreo day and seemed to go on a bender. His phone was turned off. When I saw him in town, he was not sober. His face had a woeful, befuddled look. He still sauntered down steep, icy paths with his hands in his pockets, not missing a step. But his incisiveness, his sneaky smile, were absent. Then, one morning, I saw him climbing into a minibus outside my hotel. I asked where he was going. “Azángaro,” he muttered. His mother was ill. He threw the leaves again. Oh, look at that. He pointed to a mass of leaves, then scared me by bellowing, “Hay oro!” (“There’s gold!”) Plenty of gold, plenty of money. It would be right in front of me wherever I started working. I just needed to dig. I would be able to follow the vein of gold, the quijo, wherever it went, through the mountain. I just needed to have faith. I had to leave. We agreed to stay in touch about a good night to do the ceremony. No, he admitted. But that was only because the offerings were made deep in the mountain, in a branch of the mine where the person making the payment worked, and where no one else ever went. Did I have any idea how deep some of the mines went? “Or Cuzco,” Veronica said. That was her home town. We watched a video: Veronica, Ilasaca, and his mother dancing at a New Year’s party in Azángaro, with a troupe from his barrio. They looked incredible. In the video, Ilasaca was wearing a brilliant full-length yellow poncho, swinging a silver baton, dancing in a deep, ecstatic rhythm. We took a walk through town. Fruit-sellers in the market greeted Ilasaca: “Chino!” He and Veronica were discussing their evening plans intently. Every hour was important. In the morning, he had to catch a minibus to La Rinconada. ♦ No one can agree how high above the sea level that La Rinconada really lies at: 5,300 meters or 5,200 meters?On the access road It is indisputably the highest settlement in the world; a gold mining town a concentration of misery,a community of around 70,000 inhabitants A place where countless women and children get regularly raped where law and order collapsed quite some time ago where young girls are sent to garbage dumps in order to ‘recycle’ terribly smelling waste and where almost all the men work in beastly conditions but where most of them simply ruin their health I decided to travel to La Rinconada precisely during these days when the socialist Venezuela is fighting for its survival I drove there as the European elites in Bolivia were trying to smear the enormously popular and successful President of Bolivia As in so many places in the turbo-capitalist and pro-Western Peru La Rinconada is like a tremendous warning: this is how Venezuela and Bolivia used to be before Hugo Chavez and Evo Morales This is where Washington wants the entire Latin America to return to Like those monstrous and hopeless slums surrounding Lima Just some five years ago we thought: This is how Latin America was neversupposed to look again before the extreme right-wing forces in Washington managed to regroup and to deploy old dogmas of the Monroe Doctrine back to the frontlines against Latin American independence and socialism A driver refused to take me to La Rinconada But here it is different: the reputation of La Rinconada is that “you can enter but you will never manage to leave.” I am told about the new mafia that operates there and about the totally deteriorating security situation I had no choice but to accept a crew of two men: a driver and a person “who is familiar with the situation related to Peruvian mines” passing alongthe magnificent shores of Lake Titicaca which with a surface elevation of 3,812 meters is the highest navigable lake in the world the lake is getting poisoned by mercury,” explained Freddy “La Rinconada and its gold mines are still very far but the River Ramis is now bringing contaminated water from the area particularly from the mining town of Ananea There is some sort of a motorway between Puno and Juliaca a ‘center of commercial activity’ in the region; in fact unkempt dusty city full of slums.Right after Juliaca I used to work in Peru during the so called ‘Dirty War’ fought between two Communist guerillas (the Maoist Shining Path and theMarxist the rural misery of Peru has not changed: dwellings made of earth life in the countryside improves dramatically tents of thousands of anxious men are ‘going up’ risking their lives and ruining their heath “My wife saved me,” I was told by a driver who took me from the Bolivian border of Desaguadero I told my family that I am going to La Rinconada Don’t you know: La Rinconada is a death sentence.’ I stayed I saw people who went and came back totally destroyed.” and entire villages appear to be abandoned the owner of a local eatery,prepares strong coffee and coca leaves soaked in hot water it is all poisoned; by mercury and other horrible stuff how they work up there: 29 days they are laboring for free Freddy says that there are some new technologies that could be used to extract gold just like onthe Indonesian island of Kalimantan/Borneo; there and moonscapes at some 5,000 meters of altitude The guards are obviously very unhappy about our presence And an ironic metal sign: Welcome to La Rinconada” Mountains and valleys are dotted with metal shacks Garbage even covers the humble graves of a local cemetery Two plastered miners are lying on their stomachs and someone is throwing food into their open mouths “How dangerous is it here?” I ask one of the miners “It’s life,” I hear the same fatalistic reply Do they know about Bolivia; about the great changes just across the border Do they know that some 30 kilometers away from here there is thepristine UilaUila National Fauna Reserve But they do not associate it with socialism or with the independent and pro-people policies of President Evo Morales All they know is that they were barely surviving on Altiplano and that they are fighting for their lives another savage pro-Western capitalist regime people here are too preoccupied with their immediate essential problems; they cannot be bothered with ‘abstract’ thoughts about the environment I see people pissing in the middle of the street “Everything here is mixed: poisons related to mining 4,000 in Puno is bad; over 5,000 here is fatal I am being held by two people as I film on the edge of a ravine I acknowledge that the vistas around me are beautiful Impressed by the ability of human beings to survive under almost any conditions A miner makes 800 to 1,000 Soles (roughly $250 to $300) per month Private companies and corrupt government gain billions But the West is not pushing for ‘regime change’ in Peru This is how it is supposing to be; this is how Washington likes it But before it does… If gangs do not rob us But almost nobody comes here to report and to investigate.The life of a poor Peruvian person is worth nothing; nothing at all I document… It is all that I can do for them Countercurrents is answerable only to our readers. Support honest journalism because we have no PLANET B.Become a Patron at Patreon GET COUNTERCURRENTS DAILY NEWSLETTER STRAIGHT TO YOUR INBOX Get CounterCurrents updates on our WhatsApp and Telegram Channels Join Countercurrents Annual Fund Raising Campaign and help us by Andre Damon by Dr Chanchal Malhotra by V A Mohamad Ashrof by Sidharth Shankar by Bharat Dogra by Venkatram Bachoti by Haider Abbas by Shaida Badiee Joel Gurin and Claire Melamed by National Health Rights Alliance by Anisur Rahman by Jahanara Nuri by Ashish Singh by Shahruk Ahmed Mazumdar by Mohd Ziyaullah Khan by Omprakash Kushwaha by J John by Dr Ranjan Solomon by Zeenat Khan by E A S Sarma by Euro-Med Human Rights Monitor by Phil Pasquini by Bhabani Shankar Nayak by Quds News Network by Dr VladislavB Sotirovic by Vikas Parashram Meshram by George Chakko by Colin Todhunter by Sunit Singh by Dr Narasimha Reddy Donthi by Vidya Bhushan Rawat by Dr Jasbeer Musthafa Mamalipurath by Pradeep Baisakh by Medea Benjamin by Countercurrents Collective by Mike Brock by Binu Mathew is not as romantic as imagined as people suffer from lack of oxygen and mercury pollution Your comment has been submitted and will be displayed after being approved by the editorial team.The editorial board reserves the right to edit comments to comply with the Newspaper's content regulations Governing body: Hai Duong Provincial Party Committee granted by the Ministry of Information and Communications on May 10 Editorial information The ad-free version is ready for purchase on iOS mobile app today we couldn't find that page";var n=e.querySelector("h2");return n&&n.remove(),{staticContent:e,title:t}},d=function(e){var t=document.createElement("button");return t.innerText=e,t.classList.add("error-page-button"),t},f=function(e){var t=document.createElement("div");t.id="recirculation-404",t.classList.add("brand-hint-bg");var n="\n \n \n Tick here if you would like us to send you the author’s response has been described as a lawless place due to its isolation from civilisation situated an incredible 5,100 metres above sea level is often shrouded in clouds and has become a hotbed for crime Its remote location allows criminals to evade punishment for their actions it's located near an alleged illegal gold mine A YouTuber known as Yes Theory visited the town and characterised it as "essentially as close to a lawless town as it gets" He added: "I think they just end up gravitating towards a place like this, where you end up with some pretty rough personalities." Many visitors to La Rinconada struggle with the high altitude, including the YouTuber himself, reports the Express He described his experience as akin to "Like waking up at the bottom of a glacier seeing the most beautiful view but being up during the night and hearing what was going on in the town." and the sound of drunk people breaking bottles he observed the negative impact humans have had on the environment there Author Peter Koenig also visited La Rinconada and wrote about his experience in Dissident Voice He said: "La Rinconada looks and smells like a wide-open garbage dump infested by a slowly meandering yellowish-brownish mercury-contaminated brew – tailings from illegal gold mining – what used to be a pristine mountain lake." oxygen-poor air is loaded with mercury vapour that slowly penetrates people's lungs often leading to paralysis and early death." "[The] average life expectancy of a mine worker is 30-35 years about half of Peruvian's average life expectancy." Life in the town is made even more challenging due to a dire lack of basic infrastructure; shockingly there are only three showers for the entire population of 50,000 rubbish is haphazardly dumped just outside the town the highest permanent settlement in the world is perched between soaring peaks and imposing glaciers Its inhabitants are in one way or another supported by gold mines bored in the mountainside Income from the ore extracted in its tunnels passes to the shops The gold itself will eventually find its way into the earrings of a debutante in New York or the watch of a businessman in Hong Kong But as Marie Arana argues in her highly acclaimed Silver and Stone: Three Crucibles in the Latin American Story La Rinconada also speaks to century-old traditions – and a history that as the region reckons with deep-seated social and economic inequalities can help illuminate a path forward for policymakers Following superstitions passed down through the generations miners at La Rinconada still make offerings to the lord of the underworld El Tío who supposedly repays the favor by protecting them from mine collapses And even before Columbus’ arrival in the New World the Incas and Mayans maintained mines not dissimilar to that of La Rinconada indicating the persistent role of mineral wealth in shaping the continent and Stone looks to these and other intersections in Latin America’s past and present to help explain the current state of the region Arana uses the three pillars of silver (representing mineral extraction as a whole) sword (describing violence and conquest) and stone (speaking to religions both ancient and modern) as lenses through which to glean insights into what has shaped modern Latin America and why the region has suffered such constant ills Rather than tell the story chronologically Arana divides the book into three sections Each expounds on one of the three titular subjects and she seamlessly blends the complicated history of pre-Columbian empires and other unsavory characters that continue to plague the continent into the present Arana first takes readers through the region’s history of mineral extraction gold was a symbol of the divine and using it for utilitarian purposes like currency was out of the question – the Incan ruler Pachacutec even banned its use for anyone outside of the royal family Arana wisely lavishes attention on the traditions beliefs and structure of pre-colonial society This helps demonstrates the changes wrought by the early 16th-century arrival of Hernán Cortes and the myriad of other opportunists and plunderers who descended on the New World but also the continuities that carried through the colonial period was continued through the Europeans’ use of the sword as they slaked their thirst for wealth The process of breaking away from the European masters led by figures Simón Bolívar and Cuban essayist and nationalist José Martí even after South American countries supposedly won their independence many fell under the control of new masters: (often light-skinned) oligarchs and dictators who were often as fixated on extracting wealth from their countries as the colonizers before them Arana sees this violent past as significant in explaining the ills of the present day the statistics are one indication of the severity of contemporary violence in Latin America – one recent count suggested that 43 of the world’s 50 most violent cities are in the region and Stone also shows that violence is more deeply ingrained than even the numbers suggest Similar to how a mother’s stress during pregnancy can adversely affect the health of a child the trauma perpetrated and endured by previous generations of Latin Americans has engendered modern-day dysfunction As Arana puts it: “Whether or not science ever establishes conclusively that violence or cowardice can be genetically coded in the human helix for centuries we have believed it to be so… Perhaps it is why we have learned to witness history with a certain helplessness.” The final section of the book focuses on stone: the development of spirituality and organized religion in South America Stone not only represents the naturalistic origins of many native religions but its sacredness also “seems to have united the spiritual life of the indigenous throughout the hemisphere.” As in the rest of the book Arana makes sure to pay attention on the rich culture of pre-Columbian societies the temples of the Incas and Mayans were repurposed as churches and a program of conversion sought to replace traditional belief systems many native religions persisted or were blended with Christian teachings as demonstrated by the Cora tribe of Mexico who created an amalgam of their Sun God and Jesus Christ spawning elaborate ceremonies that continue to this day around half of the world’s practicing Catholics lived in Latin America – a number that has since declined due to the rise of evangelicalism and the Catholic church’s image issues after siding with dictatorships time and time again in the 20th century not to mention multiple sexual abuses scandals Religion is still a central tenet of Latin American culture but the reign of Catholicism that has endured for centuries may be coming to a close Arana has crafted a book that strikes remarkable balance between pre-Columbian and contemporary history while fleshing out the three guiding themes have shaped the continent she ties in the stories of three individuals that embody her “crucibles” of Latin American history: Leonor González a longtime resident of La Rinconada; Carlos Buergos who served with the Cuban military in Angola and came to America during the Cuban boat lift; and Xavier Albó a Jesuit priest originally from Spain who came to Peru in 1952 to assist the people While she clearly has a deep love for Latin America one gets the sense that her outlook for the continent is not exactly bright – it is telling that expansive dive into a history that is as urgent today as ever Crandall teaches politics at Davidson College and is the author of The Salvador Option: The United States in El Salvador (Cambridge is Drugs and Thugs: The History and Future of America’s War on Drugs (Yale) Richardson is a 2019 graduate of Bowdoin College Americas Quarterly (AQ) is the premier publication on politics We are an independent publication of the Americas Society/Council of the Americas PUBLISHED BY AMERICAS SOCIETY/ COUNCIL OF THE AMERICAS La Rinconada sits three miles high in the Peruvian mountains Senna is currently enrolled in high school and on track to attend college She is interesting in studying engineering and dreams of becoming a poet '+n.escapeExpression("function"==typeof(o=null!=(o=r(e,"eyebrowText")||(null!=l?r(l,"eyebrowText"):l))?o:n.hooks.helperMissing)?o.call(null!=l?l:n.nullContext||{},{name:"eyebrowText",hash:{},data:t,loc:{start:{line:28,column:63},end:{line:28,column:78}}}):o)+" \n '+(null!=(o=c(e,"if").call(r,null!=l?c(l,"cta2PreText"):l,{name:"if",hash:{},fn:n.program(32,t,0),inverse:n.noop,data:t,loc:{start:{line:63,column:20},end:{line:63,column:61}}}))?o:"")+"\n"+(null!=(o=(c(e,"ifAll")||l&&c(l,"ifAll")||n.hooks.helperMissing).call(r,null!=l?c(l,"cta2Text"):l,null!=l?c(l,"cta2Link"):l,{name:"ifAll",hash:{},fn:n.program(34,t,0),inverse:n.noop,data:t,loc:{start:{line:64,column:20},end:{line:70,column:30}}}))?o:"")+" La Rinconada is the highest human habitation in the world and it is home to some of the most brutal living conditions known to man At a height of over 16,000 feet, it's a place where only the hardest can carve a living. About 30,000 people live in the settlement perched atop Mount Ananea in the Peruvian Andes It spends much of the year in sub-zero temperatures This is what it's like to spend your life above the clouds The bodies were found about 1,5 kilometers deep with signs of injuries The bodies of seven deceased miners were found in the small gold mine of La Rinconada The head of the local police told the Peruvian broadcaster "RPP" The bodies were discovered in the mine about 1,5 kilometers underground with signs of injuries adding that their deaths appeared to have been caused by a partial collapse of the mine the world's second largest producer of copper and seventh largest producer of gold there are frequent collapses or accidents in mines without regular operating authorizations where miners work without the required safety or environmental protection measures nine security workers at the La Poderosa gold mine in the north of the country were killed in an armed attack blamed by authorities on local gangs has overseen maintenance at La Rinconada Country Club in Los Gatos after a long stint at Lahontan Golf Club in the Lake Tahoe area was the golf course superintendent at Lahontan Golf Club near Lake Tahoe — a course he helped build and grow in — he started most Thursdays by joining a few fellow superintendents from neighboring facilities for a few cups of coffee and a whole lot of conversation only a handful were able to make it; other times there would be as many as 10 or 12 superintendents crowded around small tables at a local coffee shop But the numbers mattered far less than the camaraderie and the chatter complain about the weather or know-it-all golfers commiserate about agronomic challenges and debate issues facing their local superintendent chapter it didn’t matter much whether the crowd was big or small or whether the tone of the conversations was positive or negative These weekly gatherings always delivered something that he has craved throughout his life and his long career in golf course management — a sense of community It motivated Breen to join a cycling team during his days at the University of Nebraska It inspired many of the lifelong relationships he has built over a career that has taken him from the Rocky Mountains to the Bay Area It stirred in him a drive to join and later serve the superintendent chapters he encountered at each step along the way his desire to experience a broader sense of community and create the same for others across the industry was among the deciding factors in Breen’s pursuing a spot on GCSAA’s national board of directors a journey that culminates this year as he serves as the association’s 86th president “It’s always really been about the community of all this for Kevin about developing and having those relationships with his peers,” says his wife of 32 years recalls similar experiences from her childhood “My dad always wanted to be on the same page “Sometimes that meant skiing together on a Saturday morning or going for a hike in the summer He would be so enthusiastic and eager to get out While the 60-year-old Breen makes it clear that there are many factors behind his motivation to serve and give back to the industry he doesn’t argue that seeking a sense of community is among the most notable “I never started with committee service or serving my local chapters with the intention of wanting to become president whether that was chapter president or GCSAA president,” says the 31-year association member who is now the director of greens and grounds at La Rinconada Country Club in Los Gatos and I enjoyed trying to make things better.” Breen’s predecessor in the role of GCSAA president can attest to the positive impact that Breen’s presence has had on the national board of directors since he was elected to that group in 2015 reasoned opinion on whatever it is we’re talking about,” says Jordan he has confidence in himself that he’s considered all the options and has a well-thought-out point of view.” Those sentiments are shared by those Breen works for and with at La Rinconada who have seen how his steady hand and attention to detail have benefited the club and its 18-hole layout since his arrival in 2012 La Rinconada’s general manager who was on the hiring committee responsible for hiring Breen is effusive in his praise of the work Breen has done at the club and is confident the same is on tap for GCSAA and its worldwide membership in 2022 an appreciation of high quality and an expectation of those around him to step up and match that,” Kimball says “As a leader with those kinds of characteristics you’re going to bring everybody up with you and raise that bar and I think GCSAA will see that if they haven’t already during his time on the board.” a longtime member at La Rinconada and the club’s current president “I have an admiration for anyone who really practices their craft and genuinely wants to get better who has a sincere interest in making our club the best it can be while also developing the people who work for him so they can also be the best they can be.” While that curiosity and drive to excel come naturally to Breen the desire to serve the industry was grown and nurtured over time There wasn’t necessarily a long track record of civic leadership or association work in his background so when Breen joined a few classmates to help form a student GCSAA chapter while pursuing a horticulture and turf science degree at Colorado State University he had earned not one but two scholarships from the Rocky Mountain GCSA that supported his schoolwork at Colorado State he represented CSU in the GCSAA Collegiate Turf Bowl and took in all the Conference and Trade Show had to offer during that trip “That tied it all together for him,” Lori Breen observes One thing on Breen’s résumé jumps out from his educational background — his first college degree which had nothing to do with golf or turfgrass management the degree he earned from the University of Nebraska was in meteorology As someone who spent his formative years in the Midwest “Storm geek from the beginning,” Breen says My mom always hated that I wanted to run outdoors every time there was a tornado instead of heading to the basement.” Top: A day at Cypress Point with some of Breen’s trail running cohorts — Brian Boyer (left) the superintendent at Cinnabar Hills GC in San Jose PGA Tour agronomist; and Karl “Speedgoat” Meltzer (right) Bottom: Running is a family affair for the Breens Kevin is pictured here at the conclusion of the Lincoln He was born in the Mississippi River town of Burlington at an early age when his father took a job in wholesale furniture sales Salina sits in the dead center of the state so it became home to Kevin and his four siblings — his late brother The family stayed in central Kansas until Breen was 16 who had taken his sales skills from furniture to life insurance landed a new job that required a move to Lincoln so (the move) was my parents’ gift to me,” he says It also placed him in the immediate vicinity of the University of Nebraska and its well-regarded meteorology program which was ideal for someone whose passion for the weather had become fully formed by that point I just had this fascination with natural forces What wasn’t quite so fully formed was an equal passion for mathematics and science crucial skill sets for anyone pursuing a degree in meteorology ‘Kevin has so much ability if he’d just apply himself.’ And they were right I spent more time daydreaming and looking out the window than I did paying attention,” Breen admits That put him in a tough spot once he dived into what is a demanding course of study He had to navigate four semesters of physics It was an academic grind the likes of which he hadn’t experienced before were complications during Breen’s undergraduate days at Nebraska he got married before his freshman year of college The marriage only lasted a few years and did send him on a rather nontraditional college path two grandchildren and a reason to make regular return trips back to Lincoln: Natalie and her family still live there “One thing that sticks out from my childhood is how my dad would always encourage me to try new things and be adventurous,” Natalie says of her father “It has given me the confidence to not shy away from experiences as an adult.” Breen’s father suffered a significant head injury in a car accident that left him “a different person” and created long-term challenges for both his father and the family that would care for him Breen calls the aftermath of that accident “a motivating presence” that drove him both in school and throughout his golf course management career Breen set out to begin his career in meteorology the aptitude to seriously consider a job as a TV weatherperson and opportunities with organizations such as the National Weather Service were few and far between at that point (see “Don’t call us,” below) And though a career in meteorology never panned out the skills he learned in pursuit of that degree and his ongoing passion for the weather have paid off many times over in the career he did eventually decide to pursue “(That degree) is definitely beneficial as a golf course superintendent Scheduling of manpower or cultural practices “And I’ve been able to share what I know in a weather class I’ve taught at conference and show for five years or so sharing what I know and making it applicable for other superintendents.” So how then did Breen find his way to golf course management one undertaken largely on two-lane mountain roads throughout the American West Breen was first exposed to the game at an early age and he bought his son a set of clubs almost before he could walk the game didn’t take hold of him in the same way it had his father As his days in in Lincoln were winding down and after the end of his first marriage thinking they shared similar interests and aspirations and that The matchmaker was right; the couple hit it off drawn by the allure of life in a mountain town They landed jobs at the ski resort there while Lori contemplated pursuing a graduate degree and Kevin kept his options open for a career in meteorology Breen’s “aha moment” came at the end of that first ski season as he looked for a job that would fill the gap until the snow started to fly again the following winter He was connected with the ski resort’s golf course which had an opening in the maintenance department “I figured out you could make enough money to own a home make a decent living and live in a great spot with skiing in the winter and the golf course in the summer that Breen soon realized that golf course management traded life in a mountain town for life on the Front Range and moved to Fort Collins where Kevin could pursue his degree at Colorado State Top: Breen and family on his second daughter Lark’s graduation day from Northwestern University in Evanston Natalie Headrick (second from right) and her family — (from left) daughter Mia His early stops in the industry followed a familiar pattern “My dream situation was to be in a small mountain town working on a mountain golf course with a ski area and all the recreation you’d associate with a mountain town,” Breen says He stuck with that script through his first several golf course stops and an assistant’s position in Pagosa Springs which moved him closer to the location of his first head superintendent job in Los Alamos Because the course sat in the shadow of the Los Alamos National Lab — home to the Manhattan Project during World War II and now one of the world’s largest multidisciplinary research facilities — the collective IQ of the regulars who played the municipal course was higher than most “There were world-renowned experts in nuclear energy The guy who more or less invented the laser beam played there I had a guy that worked for me that had a number of patents for different industrial drilling techniques The job in Los Alamos and connections Breen had made along his journey in golf course management set the stage for the next chapters in his career Thanks to relationships forged at Pagosa Springs a storied figure in golf course management circles who was then a partner in the DMB Highlands Group he’s walking through because he wants to know what’s on the other side.” The same could also be said for Breen and the professional he’d become I had these people that told me to trust in myself You’ll get there.’ That was so important to me.” It all made for a perfect fit between Breen For nearly three years after taking a position with the company Breen helped support the company’s golf development efforts in whatever way he could “When people asked me what my job title was One of those tasks involved the construction and then maintenance of the Tom Weiskopf-designed Lahontan as unique a project as there was when it opened in 2000 The phrase “outside the box” might be a well-worn one it certainly fits the thinking behind what was created in the Martis Valley “The goal was to do something different than anybody had ever done before,” he says “We didn’t want to do things just because that’s the way it had always been done We wanted to do it because it made sense for us.” Breen oversaw maintenance at Lahontan with an eye toward environmental sensitivity carrying on an ethos that came naturally to him and was built into the facility’s design His work was honored in GCSAA’s Environmental Steward Award program — the precursor of the Environmental Leaders in Golf Awards — in 2001 and 2003 and his first service at the national level with GCSAA was as a member of the Environmental Programs Committee personal and professional circumstances came together to signal an end to Breen’s time at Lahontan He and Lori were looking to make a lifestyle change that didn’t feature quite as much snow as they saw in Tahoe and could maximize educational opportunities for Lark Breen also was ready for change professionally “It was just time for me to look for some new challenges,” he says the first job he interviewed for after leaving Lahontan and it’s a budget that not many 18-hole golf courses get there’s been some kind of infrastructure improvement Breen’s fellow leaders in the maintenance department at La Rinconada include “It’s been an interesting couple of years here with COVID and the grace that Kevin has displayed in the face of that adversity has been noteworthy,” says Kyle Brennan La Rinconada’s golf professional for the last four years “I know members appreciate the product he and his team produce and that they get to enjoy every day but those that know about his role with GCSAA and as president are equally proud that he’s putting our club on that national stage.” From his cycling days in college to his current passion trail running — he and PGA Tour Agronomist Thomas Bastis have completed the famed Grand Canyon Rim-to-Rim-to-Rim Run — Breen has never been one to sit still for long he knows more than most about the extremes experienced in those activities that are most often compared to a year as GCSAA president a long 12 months that are best navigated with a steady Others go the other way and think of a presidential term as a sprint where milestones come and go quickly and that ends far faster than you think it will And he promises to keep every member of the GCSAA community in mind as he maneuvers through the challenges and opportunities to come in 2022 guided by a philosophy he has used often during his years on the GCSAA board of directors that harkens back to those Thursday morning coffee meetings in Tahoe and a friendship forged there with one of the regulars “Dave’s the superintendent at Old Brockway Golf Course in Tahoe (and a 33-year GCSAA member) I think of Dave because he’s at a nine-hole course he’s a good superintendent and a really good human being And I know that if I’m just thinking about the high-end courses the big-budget superintendents when I’m making my decisions and not thinking about guys like Dave “If my decisions can help make Dave’s life better as a GCSAA member Kevin Breen’s vows to bring a big-picture perspective to his year as GCSAA president don’t make him all that different from those who have come before him in that role have long tenures on the association’s national board of directors to their credit and know from experience that pursuing radical change or taking new programs or services from start to finish in 12 short months simply isn’t realistic so staying out of the weeds and focusing on a higher level makes sense Breen’s approach to his year in office might go one step past those of his predecessors It’s one rooted in the idea of community that is so important to him and one that aims to involve individuals across the association’s membership with the goal of upping their investment in GCSAA or this one area is going to be my thing,’” Breen says “The one thing I’ve cared about and tried to focus on is that we all see ourselves as a part of GCSAA — members the board of directors — and that we all play a role in what this association achieves which is an association of people who’ve come together for a like-minded purpose We have this idea in our head that GCSAA is something outside of ourselves and we all should be equally invested in our success Breen is self-aware enough to know that his “GCSAA-is-a-construct-of-the-mind” talk can be a bit esoteric to some And he’s clear that there are several specific things that he will focus attention on in 2022 including two areas of association emphasis that have been important to him throughout his career — advocacy and environmental initiatives “I think the evolution of our advocacy efforts and how we’re now able to tie that into the environmental part of the BMPs is really significant,” Breen says “All the work that has gone into both areas has really elevated them and those things are really working together well right now I want to make sure that continues into the future.” He’s also been encouraged by the growth of The First Green initiative the association’s burgeoning relationship with the National FFA Organization and the broad acceptance for GCSAA’s Assistant Superintendent Certificate Series But he does see a gap in the spaces between those points along an individual’s path in golf course management that he’d like to begin closing during his term specifically for those without four-year college degrees “We talk about bringing relevance to the golf industry but there’s only 47% of facilities that have GCSAA members,” Breen says “There are a lot of facilities and a lot of superintendents who don’t have four-year degrees we would be so much stronger if we had those people on board I think we’re really poised to play a big role in closing that gap with our continuing education piece That bodes well both for us and for the overall golf industry.” When most people find out that Kevin Breen earned a meteorology degree from the University of Nebraska “Were you going to be a local television weather forecaster?” or “Did you send a résumé to the Weather Channel?” more than a time or two would be a pretty significant understatement But that speculation isn’t all that far from the truth He did work for a time providing daily weather reports for a small network of rural radio stations in Nebraska And he did go through an audition for an on-air position at a TV station in Lincoln the whole audition process made it clear that his future wasn’t going to be in television was ready to do my thing with the green screen,” Breen says “They got me ready with the microphone on my jacket and the cord up my sleeve the little clicker to change maps and all that stuff They had me stand in front of the set and told me it would be just a few minutes and they’d be ready to go “And then they left me there for probably 20 minutes with all the lights on I’m waiting for the camera operator or somebody to come and shoot this audition somebody showed up and they ask me if I’m ready we do this quick little thing and they said that’s it.’ I think it was less than two minutes I asked if they needed a second take or wanted me to do something else “I’m pretty sure the wait and everything was intentional just to see if I would sweat under the lights and how I handled it Breen realized that wasn’t such a bad thing “I decided that’s not really what I wanted to do,” he says But those jobs just weren’t available then.” meteorology’s loss would be golf course management’s gain it's a place where only the hardest-skinned can carve a living More than 50,000 people live in the settlement This is what it’s like to spend your life above the clouds Life and death in La Rinconada—one of the world’s most desolate places La Rinconada’s population fluctuates with the price of gold countless people have gravitated to its mountain from small towns all over Peru seeking their fortunes in a place where there are no guarantees the isolated town sits below a daunting peak known as la Bella Durmiente “Sleeping Beauty.” More than 100 tons of gold are extracted from it annually At an elevation of 17,000 feet above sea level La Riconada is the highest habitation of any community on earth Those who come here face various forms of altitude sickness Elevation also causes blood problems for long-term residents It is said that the mines of La Rinconada kill workers quickly by developing terminal health problems from the poor living conditions Photographer Sebastian Castañeda recently visited La Rinconada—a place known to be unwelcoming to journalists and outsiders Though he says his presence with a camera was not well received Castañeda was able to observe the community by accompanying a local miner to work during the daytime “The situation is very different during the nights,” he says Access to electricity was established in 2002 but there is still no sewage or clean water infrastructure The cold climate regulates the deficient sanitation so when temperatures rise above freezing level the town turns into a muddy cesspool of bacteria and thawing waste Mercury and cyanide are the primary ingredients used to process gold and most of the ground area and water sources in the town are highly contaminated like other journalists who have visited the mines was dismayed to hear of the curious deaths that occur underground both from accidents and at the hands of fellow miners Some NGO reports have cited an average of a half-dozen homicides per month—most commonly stabbings The Quechua people consider miner deaths payments to Pachamama There are also stories from La Rinconada about missing children and blood sacrifices being performed to honor the mountain gods La Rinconada miners work on a traditional labor system called cachorreo where they work 30 days—unpaid—for the company that claims rights to the mines followed by one or two days (depending who you ask) mining gold for themselves as a form of payment What can potentially be earned in the non-company days determines the payoff from a month of labor It’s not uncommon for miners to walk away with nothing a recent effort to reform the cachorreo system into a national Peruvian salary model was heavily opposed by the miners The cachorreo offers a greater chance to earn money not to mention the opportunity to smuggle gold from the mine during the days spent working for the company They bang on rocks with small hammers and sort through tailings in search of gold Many pallaqueras are widows or single mothers Women are not permitted to enter the mines so they spend tireless hours outside at the top of the mountain The entrances to the mineshafts are a 30-minute hike from the town The pallaqueras devote a portion of their meager incomes to purchase gift offerings to the mountain deities in return for good fortune “La Rinconada is a lonely place to work,” says Castañeda “People work long hours to earn an income and support their families where others work to earn money for alcohol and prostitutes.” Black market gold is said to be Peru’s leading illegal export and the value of gold in La Rinconada reflects the daily market rates set in New York and London the gold makes its way into small processing shops before it’s moved down the mountain to Juliaca it’s trafficked over the border to Bolivia and joins the global distribution network of gold trade less gold is pulled from the depths of Sleeping Beauty Yet as the community becomes more polluted with toxins and swells far beyond capacity new people continue to arrive in search of fortune one thing is certain: La Rinconada ultimately has no future Join our newsletter to get exclusives on where our correspondents travel We make all the mistakes so you don’t have to a new longform series curated by Anthony Bourdain from an ayahuasca training center in the Peruvian Amazon The most photographed valley in the world gets bathed in new light and color Images from R&K’s design chief Doug Hughmanick and growing up as the daughter of Cuban rock royalty Antonio Yana Yana, 49, is a security chief at the San Antonio Mine in La Rinconada. After working all his life in the mine, in a high-altitude environment where oxygen is scarce, he suffers from lung problems.ByBarbara Fraser and Hildegard WillerPhotographs byCédric GerbehayeJune 15, 2021•15 min readThree miles up in the Peruvian Andes, La Rinconada is the highest settlement on the planet, a place whose bleak existence depends on the high price of its most coveted resource—gold.  Several small companies have claims in Mount Ananea, and one contracts out sections of its claim to around 450 members of cooperatives who are among its shareholders.  The irony of La Rinconada’s modern gold rush is not lost on Víctor Hugo Pachas, a Peruvian anthropologist who studies unregulated gold mining in Peru and other South American countries.   Miners always complain that the mines are playing out, he says, “but there’s still gold. If there comes a time when there is less gold, mining will again become a complementary activity for farmers, as it was before.” The contractors who operate the informal mines often live outside of La Rinconada, leaving day-to-day operations to a trusted overseer. That person manages laborers who mine the ore with nothing more sophisticated than dynamite and pneumatic drills. Small-scale processing plants crush the ore and mix it with mercury or cyanide to extract gold. Then a chain of brokers buy and sell the gold and, in some cases, export it. Labor agreements generally are verbal, with a foreman hiring workers for a week to several months, depending on the gold vein being worked. The laborers may receive food and lodging but no benefits or wages. Instead, for roughly a day or two a month they are allowed to work in the mine and keep what they find, a system known as cachorreo. If they find nothing, it means they’ve worked for free.  Miners grumble about the system, but no one really wants to change it—it’s cheaper for the contractor, and it’s easier for a laborer to leave if he decides he’s had enough. Many stay, however, lured by the possibility of a lucky strike. Fidel Eliseo Mestas Mendoza, 42, works as a winchero, loading trucks with ore deep inside the San Antonio Mine. His cheek bulges with a ball of coca leaves, used by Andean people for millennia to ward off hunger and exhaustion.Luck comes to miners in dreams and in more insidious ways, says Maria Eugenia Robles Mengoa, a Peruvian-Bolivian anthropologist.  When Robles first traveled to La Rinconada in 2016, she found a machista world in which women nonetheless are omnipresent. For the miners, even Mount Ananea is female, she says. They call it awicha, which means “grandmother” in Quechua. If a miner is lucky, the legend goes, a female spirit—la gringa—will visit him in dreams and guide him to a rich ore vein. But la gringa is considered jealous, and local belief holds that she will not give up her gold if another woman enters the mine. Even now, few women venture into the mountain. There’s also a disturbing belief that luck comes to miners who drink heavily and have sex with young women. In La Rinconada, some 2,000 young women, some of them minors, work in bars that double as brothels. “When I first saw these girls and the violence they suffer, I felt a combination of rage and desperation,” Robles recalls. At the time, she was 27, and all of these women she saw in La Rinconada were younger. Large amounts of ore often are processed with cyanide to extract the gold, but the smaller amounts gleaned by pallaqueras and by miners on their cachorreo days usually are crushed with mercury, which binds to the gold, forming a lump of amalgam. This may be done in a tumbler-like drum or with huge rocks in a tool called a quimbalete. The miner or pallaquera then takes the amalgamated lump to a buyer who blasts it with a blowtorch to vaporize the mercury, leaving the gold behind. Two girls walk along the main street in La Rinconada in the shadow of Mount Ananea, which is honeycombed with mine shafts. The town has no hospital, garbage collection, or sewer system for its 30,000 to 50,000 residents.By the time gold from informal mines in La Rinconada or other parts of Peru ends up in wedding rings or watches, it bears no traces of the harsh conditions in which it was produced.  Some of the gold is sold through legal channels, but to avoid paperwork and taxes, some miners sell theirs on the black market. Black market gold may be laundered, with paperwork to make it appear legal. As long as the papers appear legitimate, exporters may not inspect a mine to see whether it complies with regulations.  Eventually, most gold from Peru is exported to refineries abroad, with about one-third of exports going to Switzerland, which refines as much as 70 percent of the world’s gold. But pressure from environmental and human rights organizations and several high-profile cases have led to efforts to clean up the supply chain Those cases include Peruvian customs agents’ seizure of a 200-pound shipment bound for Switzerland and arrests in the U.S of refinery employees on money-laundering charges Cleaning up the supply chain means requiring miners to comply with regulations and enabling buyers to trace the gold to its source and verify the conditions there A woman rocks on a stone quimbalete to crush gold-bearing ore she scavenged that day After several hours she will mix the resulting sand with mercury leaving the gold behind.Two La Rinconada miners wait to see what a local gold buyer will pay for their labors miners are allowed to work roughly an extra day or two a month and sell what they find in a system known as cachorreo.The task has been complicated by a surge in the number of unregulated mines in Peru as gold prices rose from less than $300 an ounce two decades ago to about $1,700 an ounce this spring Unable to comply with regulations designed for large corporate mines small-scale operators often have paid no taxes and received little official oversight Peru’s government has made various attempts to bring those miners into compliance with administrative but that process—known as formalization—takes time Of the more than 60,000 informal miners registered with the government The tens of thousands of other informal miners can sell gold legally as long as they declare that they are working toward compliance The deadline for formalization has been extended several times allowing the sale of gold that has been produced under harsh and dangerous conditions like those in La Rinconada or in placer mines that have left moonscape-like craters across Amazonian lowlands That’s how gold that may have been chipped away by a miner on his cachorreo day with all the health and environmental risks that implies could end up in a wedding ring or a Swiss watch If anything can clean up informal gold mining it’s consumers who insist on knowing that their jewelry is untainted by pollution or abusive labor practices who is now country manager for Peru and Bolivia with the nonprofit Alliance for Responsible Mining (ARM) ARM is one of three main organizations—the others are Fairtrade International and the Responsible Jewellery Council—that certify gold from miners who meet a series of legal and environmental standards and link them with jewelers who want to be able to trace their supply to its origin which the miners reinvest in the mine or use for community projects depending on their agreement with the certifying organization A pallaquera carries a bag filled with ore debris she sorted by hand from outside a mine in La Rinconada Women are forbidden to enter the mines because of a local belief that their presence would anger a female spirit who guides male miners to gold deep within Mount Ananea.The Nobel Peace Prize medal has been cast from ARM-certified “fairmined” gold since 2015 and the Zurich Cantonal Bank sells Fairtrade International-certified bars made of gold from Peru and because of a shortage of buyers willing to pay extra the amount of gold certified as “fairtrade,” “fairmined,” or “ecological”—meaning that it was processed without toxic chemicals—is still just a tiny fraction of the total mined each year a public-private association involving Switzerland’s government and the gold industry is trying to connect miners directly with large-scale jewelers and other manufacturers and increase demand among buyers Although 18 mines in Peru have been certified the complex system of contracts and cachorreo in the underground mines of the world’s highest settlement makes certification there especially difficult “It’s a matter of the miners having the will to do it Barbara Fraser reports mainly on environmental Hildegard Willer is a journalist focusing on social and environmental issues The National Geographic Society is committed to illuminating and protecting the wonder of our world. Learn more about the Society’s support of its Explorers This story appears in the July 2021 issue of National Geographic magazine. Watch your inbox over the next few days for photos captured in mistnet on the outskirts of Wanang village their jelly matrix will limit ventilation to the egg masses starving out especially dense eggs like this (La Jolla Castor canadensis."},"title":"Where does vanilla flavoring come from The silken case itself is visible with the greyish material (a mix of caterpillar saliva and silk) the first black man to make it to the top of the country and western music field From Twenty Hand-Coloured Prints after Original Paintings of Famous American Thoroughbreds by Edward Troye (1808–1874) image: 11 3/8 x 14 15/16 in.","ttl":"2B0GHKP.jpg"},"title":"The life of Lexington used to make tequila on the grounds of the Fortaleza Tequila Distillery."},"title":"Visit Jalisco The Haenyeo make a living out of harvesting the sea floor catching conch They freedive to depths of 20 meters and hold their breath for minutes But the Haenyoe is an endangered 'species' the sea was abundant with them – around 30.000 of them would take to the sea almost daily they hardly number 5000 and more than two-thirds are over 60 years old Here are a few experts love."}],"topicName":"Lifestyle"},"rightpromo":{"id":"2c88edf9-e45c-48a7-a57e-3c8667c53fbc","cmsType":"TileGridModule","tiles":{"id":"drn:src:natgeo:unison::prod:441fde9e-010c-4a0c-a09d-296ee7cb9690","href":"https://www.nationalgeographic.com/lifestyle/article/best-compact-cameras","cmsType":"ArticleNavTile","ratio":"4x3","title":"The 10 best compact cameras for travel is a security chief at the San Antonio Mine in La Rinconada in a high-altitude environment where oxygen is scarce he suffers from lung problems."}},"hideEndBug":true,"positionMetaBottom":true,"showDownArrow":false,"ctaLinkDisplay":"textLink","description":"Unregulated mines and uncontrolled sprawl make La Rinconada La Rinconada is the highest settlement on the planet a place whose bleak existence depends on the high price of its most coveted resource—gold. "},"type":"p","style":{}},{"id":"html1","cntnt":{"mrkup":"As the price of the precious element more than quintupled over the past two decades what was once a small town in the shadow of snowcapped Mount Ananea has transformed into an uncontrolled sprawl of corrugated metal shacks packed around artisanal mine entrances and a refuse-choked lake The biting cold and lack of oxygen at 16,732 feet above sea level leave even the locals gasping for breath Miners have been robbed or even murdered after selling their gold Some murder victims have been women and girls lured from larger cities in Peru and Bolivia by human traffickers who confiscated their identity papers and put them to work in La Rinconada’s dingy bars and brothels."},"type":"p","style":{}},{"id":"html3","cntnt":{"mrkup":"Several small companies have claims in Mount Ananea and environmental conditions but are allowed by the government to continue operating as long as they register with a program that’s aimed at 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gold mining will again become a complementary activity for farmers leaving day-to-day operations to a trusted overseer That person manages laborers who mine the ore with nothing more sophisticated than dynamite and pneumatic drills Small-scale processing plants crush the ore and mix it with mercury or cyanide to extract gold Then a chain of brokers buy and sell the gold and export it."},"type":"p","style":{}},{"id":"html10","cntnt":{"mrkup":"Labor agreements generally are verbal with a foreman hiring workers for a week to several months The laborers may receive food and lodging but no benefits or wages for roughly a day or two a month they are allowed to work in the mine and keep what they find it means they’ve worked for free. "},"type":"p","style":{}},{"id":"html11","cntnt":{"mrkup":"Miners grumble about the system but no one really wants to change it—it’s cheaper for the contractor and it’s easier for a laborer to leave if he decides he’s had enough lured by the possibility of a 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photographed prefer not to give their name."}},{"caption":{"credit":"Photograph by Cedric Gerbehaye","text":"José Fernando Quispe Quispe a miner and driller at the San Antonio Mine Many young men come to La Rinconada in the hopes of carving out a future in a moribund economy.","altText":"José Fernando Quispe Quispe Many young men come to La Rinconada in the hopes of carving out a future in a moribund economy."}}],"disableFullscreen":true,"hideTitle":false,"hideDek":false,"hideCredit":false,"align":"contentWidth","size":"small","richDescription":{"markup":null}},"type":"inline","style":{}},{"id":"html12","cntnt":{"mrkup":"Luck comes to miners in dreams and in more insidious ways a Peruvian-Bolivian anthropologist. "},"type":"p","style":{}},{"id":"html13","cntnt":{"mrkup":"When Robles first traveled to La Rinconada in 2016 she found a machista world in which women nonetheless are omnipresent which means “grandmother” in Quechua."},"type":"p","style":{}},{"id":"html14","cntnt":{"mrkup":"If a miner is lucky a female spirit—la gringa—will visit him in dreams and guide him to a rich ore vein and local belief holds that she will not give up her gold if another woman enters the mine few women venture into the mountain."},"type":"p","style":{}},{"id":"html15","cntnt":{"mrkup":"There’s also a disturbing belief that luck comes to miners who drink heavily and have sex with young women work in bars that double as brothels."},"type":"p","style":{}},{"id":"html16","cntnt":{"mrkup":"“When I first saw these girls and the violence they suffer I felt a combination of rage and desperation,” Robles recalls and all of these women she saw in La Rinconada were 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with mercury This may be done in a tumbler-like drum or with huge rocks in a tool called a quimbalete."},"type":"p","style":{}},{"id":"html19","cntnt":{"mrkup":"The miner or pallaquera then takes the amalgamated lump to a buyer who blasts it with a blowtorch to vaporize the mercury leaving the gold behind."},"type":"p","style":{}},{"id":"Gold","cntnt":{"cmsType":"image","ariaLabel":"image","align":"contentWidth","belowParagraph":true,"envNme":"prod","flags":{"hideTitle":true,"hideCredit":true,"hideAssetSource":true},"qryStr":"userab=ng_pw_copy-287*variant_a-1126&forceMode=fitt","mrkup":"","placement":"inline"},"type":"inline","style":{}},{"id":"html20","cntnt":{"mrkup":"Some gold shops use devices to capture the mercury but shopkeepers and miners are still exposed to toxic mercury vapor which also drifts over the glacier above La Rinconada condensing on the ice and poisoning the drinking water supply it bears no traces of the harsh conditions in which it was produced. "},"type":"p","style":{}},{"id":"html22","cntnt":{"mrkup":"Some of the gold is sold through legal channels some miners sell theirs on the black market."},"type":"p","style":{}},{"id":"html23","cntnt":{"mrkup":"Black market gold may be laundered exporters may not inspect a mine to see whether it complies with regulations. "},"type":"p","style":{}},{"id":"html24","cntnt":{"mrkup":"Eventually most gold from Peru is exported to refineries abroad with about one-third of exports going to Switzerland which refines as much as 70 percent of the world’s gold."},"type":"p","style":{}},{"id":"html25","cntnt":{"mrkup":"High gold prices have allowed once modest Peruvian brokers to become top exporters quickly But pressure from environmental and human rights organizations and several high-profile cases have led to efforts to clean up the supply chain. "},"type":"p","style":{}},{"id":"html26","cntnt":{"mrkup":"Those cases include Peruvian customs agents’ seizure of a 200-pound shipment bound for Switzerland and arrests in the U.S leaving the gold behind.","ttl":"13 Pair LA RINCONADA"},"src":"https://i.natgeofe.com/n/c9ee561f-f294-4e24-97bf-ba4247f50155/MM8871_190428_004505.jpg"},{"aspectRatio":1.5003663003663004,"caption":"Two La Rinconada miners wait to see what a local gold buyer will pay for their labors small-scale operators often have paid no taxes and received little official oversight."},"type":"p","style":{}},{"id":"html29","cntnt":{"mrkup":"During the past two decades but that process—known as formalization—takes time. "},"type":"p","style":{}},{"id":"html30","cntnt":{"mrkup":"Of the more than 60,000 informal miners registered with the government and manage environmental impacts."},"type":"p","style":{}},{"id":"html31","cntnt":{"mrkup":"The tens of thousands of other informal miners can sell gold legally as long as they declare that they are working toward compliance allowing the sale of gold that has been produced under harsh and dangerous conditions like those in La Rinconada or in placer mines that have left moonscape-like craters across Amazonian lowlands."},"type":"p","style":{}},{"id":"html32","cntnt":{"mrkup":"That’s how gold that may have been chipped away by a miner on his cachorreo day could end up in a wedding ring or a Swiss watch."},"type":"p","style":{}},{"id":"html33","cntnt":{"mrkup":"If anything can clean up informal gold mining who is now country manager for Peru and Bolivia with the nonprofit Alliance for Responsible Mining (ARM)."},"type":"p","style":{}},{"id":"html34","cntnt":{"mrkup":"ARM is one of three main organizations—the others are Fairtrade International and the Responsible Jewellery Council—that certify gold from miners who meet a series of legal the amount of gold certified as “fairtrade,” “fairmined,” or “ecological”—meaning that it was processed without toxic chemicals—is still just a tiny fraction of the total mined each year. "},"type":"p","style":{}},{"id":"html36","cntnt":{"mrkup":"The Better Gold Initiative is trying to connect miners directly with large-scale jewelers and other manufacturers and increase demand among buyers."},"type":"p","style":{}},{"id":"html37","cntnt":{"mrkup":"Although 18 mines in Peru have been certified the complex system of contracts and cachorreo in the underground mines of the world’s highest settlement makes certification there especially difficult."},"type":"p","style":{}},{"id":"html38","cntnt":{"mrkup":"Even so And a matter of trust.”"},"type":"p","style":{}},{"id":"Author-and-bug","cntnt":{"id":"Author-and-bug","cmsType":"editorsNote","note":"Barbara Fraser reports mainly on environmental The National Geographic Society is committed to illuminating and protecting the wonder of our world. Learn more about the Society’s support of its Explorers This story appears in the July 2021 issue of National Geographic magazine Too many automated requests from this network These women live with their families in shacks in a gold shantytown in the Andes The men of La Rinconada ban all women from the mines dug beneath the rock So the pallaqueras take turns to scramble up on to piles of scree that the men have dumped A miner makes his way up a steep trail during a shift change in La Rinconada Revolving shifts allow miners to see daylight every few days Mark Ovaska is a freelance photographer who was seriously bent on getting to the highest human settlement on Earth: La Rinconada, Peru. The shantytown in the Andes Mountains first caught his attention when he read a National Geographic article about gold mining — but there were no photos of La Rinconada so he decided to just buy a ticket and go there He thought it would be easy enough to photograph the inhabitants of the mountain outpost but his trip was derailed after a careless hotel clerk let someone into his room in Lima Part of the sprawling shantytown of La Rinconada is located in the basin of a receding glacier Despite the setback, Ovaska decided to stay and try to make the trek to La Rinconada. He got a cheap Holga camera shipped to him from the U.S. and a month later rolled into La Rinconada after a long bus ride The main industry in La Rinconada is the gold mining operation simply for the chance to haul out as much rock as they can on the 31st day with the hope that it will contain traces of gold The town has no plumbing and little sanitation and is a gravely dangerous place for the miners A lone man works in the cliffs of rock leftover by large-scale surface mining there are numerous neurological issues among the miners as liquid mercury used to extract the gold seeps into the snow and drinking water "I really underestimated how miserable it would be," Ovaska said Ovaska shot nine rolls of film in a day-and-a-half The resulting photos are haunting in their stark desperation they portray La Rinconada as a deeply depressing place And while the eccentricities of the Holga can definitely have that effect on any photo subject Ovaska says that feeling matched his own experience water and air are contaminated by liquid mercury which is widely used in the extraction of gold He saw a miner badly hurt by falling down the mountain He saw women left to search for gold in the scraps of rocks left behind by the men But part of good photojournalism is capturing not only moments in a place but also the feeling of the place And while Ovaska admits that his pictures became a reflection of his personal experience in La Rinconada he also thinks they accurately portray the lawlessness of the town Ovaska would like to go back to La Rinconada to more intimately explore the people who live there He wants to find a way into their personal lives and tell a more hopeful story of the people who live to search for gold See more photos from Ovaska's story Glacier Gold Become an NPR sponsor reside at least 8,202 feet (2,500 metres) above sea level which is an astounding 15,980 feet (4,870 m) above sea level which is around 15,000 feet (4,572 m) above sea level are two of the highest permanent communities Tucked up in the Peruvian Andes is a village known as "Devil's Paradise."  this permanent settlement is the highest on Earth with 50,000 residents living between 16,404 feet (5,000 m) and 17,388 feet (5,300 m) above sea level La Rinconada is a very hard place to live Food is imported from areas with lower altitudes and the community didn't have electricity until the 2000s Originally established over 60 years ago as a temporary mining hamlet the town is well-known for its gold mining industry living in harsh conditions with up to half the oxygen pressure at sea level is a price paid for the possession of gold Chinese President Xi Jinping orders "all-out efforts" in the search and rescue operations "I'm looking to have four great years and turn it over to somebody ideally a great Republican," Trump tells NBC Xi will hold bilateral talks with Putin on strategic ties and issues on international and regional agenda Sources say there was "alleged impropriety" in publicity Swindon and Greater Manchester area on suspicion of "terrorism offences" Closed-door “general congregations” allow cardinals to discuss challenges new pontiff will face Copyright © 2025. 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