The Economic Times

'El dorado' of Peru: Here workers get paid in all the gold they can carry on the payday at the world's highest town

La Rinconada, Peru, is the world's highest permanent settlement, where 50,000 people live at 5,000 meters above sea level to mine gold. Lacking basic infrastructure like sewage and running water, the community operates on the informal cachorreo labor system. Despite extreme health risks and oxygen deprivation, the town continues to grow as a makeshift center of survival and economic desperation.