YouTuber visits the world's highest city and makes a terrifying discovery
Zazza el italiano, an Italian youtuber with two million subscribers, decided to visit the world's highest city and film his explorations.
The 31-year-old thrill-seeker is known for his travels in some of the world's most hostile and dangerous neighborhoods. This time around, he chose to travel to Peru, to La Rinconada. This mining town of 50,000 inhabitants lies at an altitude of 5,300m in the Andes mountain range.
Here, high up in the mountains, the population faces difficult conditions. Air pollution, lack of oxygen and the total absence of sewers and running water make La Rinconada's environment particularly hostile. In 2019, a team of scientists set down their luggage (and equipment) in the city in question to analyze the “effects of oxygen depletion on the population”. The results of their research are astonishing.
Samuel Vergès, head of the expedition, explains in Le Monde: “We've just found 85% hematocrit (volume of red blood cells) in the blood of a mine worker - it's mind-boggling! In France, anyone with such a rate would have already died of a heart attack or cerebral haemorrhage.” The inhabitants of La Rinconada are therefore able to survive at very high altitudes. “They have developed the ability to improve oxygen transport thanks to their blood, which is very rich in red blood cells. This compensates, in part, for the lack of oxygen in the air,” stresses the scientist.
The city is an unusual place, and one that has left its mark on the Italian youtuber. In the video he has just published, Zazza el italiano describes the city as “the most inhuman place in the world”. As reported by Demotivateur, the content creator was accompanied throughout his visit by two police officers, considering the city as being “dangerous” and “off-limits to tourists”. He pointed out that La Rinconada resembled a “huge shantytown”, populated by criminals “disguised as minors”. “I saw a lot of people abusing alcohol. I think it's because there's not much entertainment and life is very hard... those are the only times when you kind of forget how hard it is to work here, I suppose, don't you?” muses the Italian influencer.
(MH with AsD - Source : Demotivateur - Illustration : Unsplash)