High in the Peruvian Andes is a city where the air is so thin you can taste the “blood in your throat” – but it was seeing blood spilled on the street after a fatal shooting that left one traveller physically sick.
Extreme travel is nothing new to Frank van Dam, who has plunged into an ice hole in -52°C temperatures in Yakutsk, spent seven days in Taliban-controlled Afghanistan and lived off the land with local hunters in the Amazon for four days.
But nothing could prepare the 22-year-old Dutch filmmaker for the 72 hours he would spend in La Rinconada, the “lawless city of Peru” that would push that appetite for adventure into far more dangerous territory.
Lawless city of Peru
Perched more than three miles above sea level, the remote gold-mining city is widely considered the highest permanent settlement on Earth, with about 50,000 people living at an altitude of roughly 5,100 meters (16,700 feet).
Life there revolves heavily around the gold beneath the mountains, but above ground, there are no paved roads, sewage systems or running water, while drug and alcohol abuse, violent crime and illegal prostitution add to the hardship in a city where law enforcement has little presence.
‘Allowed to shoot people’
The danger was serious enough that van Dam paid four police officers $400 USD to accompany him as he ventured deeper into the city.
“We are bringing the police with us because in that area, almost every miner carries a gun,” van Dam explained in his YouTube documentary, “3 Days in the World’s Highest City Without Laws!”
“But after all, this is where the money and the gold are. There are countless signs warning that you are allowed to shoot people if they enter your territory because people rob a lot here,” the adventurer continued in the March 2026 clip.
It wouldn’t take long for van Dam to discover just how quickly violence could erupt around him.
Killing outside hotel
Within hours of arriving in La Rinconada, the danger van Dam had been warned about was no longer hypothetical.
“So, there’s a robbery going on right now,” said his guide, Jefferson, as something unfolded outside the hotel where the group was staying.
When van Dam asked what was happening, the answer came quickly.
“There’s one person dead and another going to in hospital,” the guide told him, pointing out a body lying on the street. “They don’t know exactly [what happened] because nobody wants to talk about the problems.”
‘Stay silent’
The discovery hit particularly hard because van Dam and his crew had been enjoying time with residents only moments earlier, unaware that someone nearby was dying.
“This is not a joke. Two minutes ago, we were having fun with locals and at that time a fatal incident occurred, and it really shows the contrast of the city,” said van Dam, who had just recorded a TikTok clip with a young woman on the street.
He continued: “This whole situation made me feel physically sick. Just thinking about the fact that the same thing could have happened to me if I had been in the wrong place at the wrong time.”
Jefferson then offered van Dam a chilling piece of advice about what to do if he ever witnessed such violence when he was alone.
“If you see somebody shooting somebody, it’s better to say, ‘I can see’ and stay silent.”
For van Dam, however, violence wasn’t the only danger waiting in La Rinconada. Even without a gun anywhere near him, simply spending time at such an extreme altitude was putting his body under extraordinary strain.
‘Tasting blood in our throat’
At such a high altitude, every breath came with far less available oxygen than van Dam’s body was accustomed to, and it wasn’t long before the dizzying effects started showing.
“My lips are blue which is a sign of oxygen deprivation. We are tasting blood in our throat. Blood because it’s so dry,” he told the camera.
The problem became even more alarming while he slept, when van Dam said his blood oxygen levels dropped dramatically.
“We had extremely low blood oxygen saturation, 70 to 75% during the night, and if you have this for a long period of time, you can get serious consequences to your organs,” he explained.
Still, he and his crew were determined to finish.
“But to be honest, we are filmmakers. We wanted to push this documentary out there. And therefore, we risked our own health for this video for you guys,” he shared. “This was one of the most risky recordings I’ve ever done abroad. In this city, danger can appear in the smallest corner. Your life can be taken away in a fraction of a second.”
What’s the most extreme place you’ve ever travelled to, and would you ever consider visiting somewhere like La Rinconada? Let us know where your adventures have taken you, then share this story with someone who loves exploring off the beaten path.
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