- 6 months ago
La Rinconada, the closest inhabited place to the sky on Earth, where people are living above the clouds. Life on the highest habitable altitude is tough.
At this extreme altitude of 5,100 meters, the atmosphere significantly thins and the locals are living with only 50% of the usual oxygen levels. Their bodies have evolved to produce two times more blood cells than ours. On this barren land, not even a single tree can survive because of the low air pressure.
This town in the Peruvian Andes is even 300 meters higher than Mont Blanc, the highest peak in the Alps of Europe.
Far from the modern world, it is a place where crime and danger are always nearby. People come to these harsh lands for only one reason: gold. About 50,000 people have settled here, among piles of trash, all dreaming of wealth.
At this extreme altitude of 5,100 meters, the atmosphere significantly thins and the locals are living with only 50% of the usual oxygen levels. Their bodies have evolved to produce two times more blood cells than ours. On this barren land, not even a single tree can survive because of the low air pressure.
This town in the Peruvian Andes is even 300 meters higher than Mont Blanc, the highest peak in the Alps of Europe.
Far from the modern world, it is a place where crime and danger are always nearby. People come to these harsh lands for only one reason: gold. About 50,000 people have settled here, among piles of trash, all dreaming of wealth.
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FunTranscript
00:00Siri, what is the temperature?
00:08It's minus 47 degrees outside.
00:10Air temperature in Antarctica is negative 14.8 degrees Fahrenheit or negative 20 degrees Celsius.
00:17Here it is negative 58 degrees Fahrenheit or negative 47 degrees Celsius.
00:30Our lungs are not used yet, that's why we are coughing.
00:40The weather here is very cold and dry.
00:42There is a large population here, approximately 300,000 inhabitants.
00:47Yakusk is the capital of Saha Republic.
00:50An autonomous region that is allied with Russia, 280 miles away from the North Pole.
00:56Since this place is the most northeastern point of Siberia, it is very much isolated from the rest of the world.
01:10Outside temperature is around negative 58 degrees Fahrenheit.
01:14The boiling water is about 212 degrees Fahrenheit.
01:20As you see, it instantly turns into ice crystals.
01:23The lowest air temperature ever measured in this region is negative 96.16 degrees Fahrenheit.
01:31It is as if it belongs to another planet.
01:34A banana left outside can turn into a hammer in minutes.
01:39People cannot wear metal frame glasses here because the metal could stick to their skin.
01:44And if they wanted to take off their glasses, their flesh might be cleared out.
01:48This is a piece of meat that looks very much like human flesh.
01:51Let's just put it in contact with metal.
02:00As you can see, these are natural gas pipes.
02:02And they have to be laid above the ground because the underground is frozen with ice.
02:06There is actually a 100 foot thick mass of ice under the city.
02:10Look, this river is completely frozen.
02:13During the Soviet era, people who contradicted Stalin's ideas were exiled to Sahar Republic region.
02:20They were politicians, businessmen, etc.
02:23As a matter of fact, some of these people who live in Yakutskradenov are their grandchildren.
02:28So this place used to be land of exile.
02:30Today, there is a city life going on.
02:32But we could call this life an ice hell.
02:35It pushes the limits of human nature.
02:37No matter how much we bundle up, nothing is enough to keep our bodies warm.
02:45If you have a car here, you have a big problem.
02:47Winter lasts for six to seven months here.
02:50And in that time, you can never drive your car.
02:52If you insist on driving it, you can never stop your vehicle's engine.
02:56For example, the car with a running engine you can see here is empty.
03:00There is nobody inside.
03:01There are hundreds of cars like this.
03:03The reason why the engine is running, if it stops, it can be completely covered with ice.
03:08And the engine oil will freeze.
03:10As you can see, the owner of this vehicle must have decided not to run his or her car for a while.
03:15Just after 20 minutes of the engine being off, it is common to give up hope.
03:20Another frozen car here waiting to be reused next summer.
03:24This car is running, right?
03:26Let's see if there is anybody inside.
03:28Yeah, nobody.
03:30Can you imagine what a huge base of energy this actually is?
03:34Fortunately, Russia is a country that is quite rich in oil and natural gas resources.
03:40Even the exhaust smoke freezes, that's how cold it is.
03:43There are special covers for protection.
03:46Sometimes this is not enough too.
03:48People who can afford it, keep their vehicles in a heated garage.
03:52Because these vehicles are constantly running, there is a constant layer of exhaust smoke over the city.
03:58Range of visibility is often below 200 feet due to the smoke.
04:02The houses here have completely different architecture.
04:06The reason why the buildings are built on pillars is that the ground is covered with ice and there is a possibility of ice shift.
04:14Old houses start to lean over after a decade or so.
04:18Because the amount of ice either increases or decreases.
04:22It feels like pins and needles.
04:24The worst thing that could happen is to get frostbite.
04:27Considering a refrigerator operates at about 40 degrees Fahrenheit.
04:31A freezer operates at about negative 4 degrees Fahrenheit.
04:34Since the temperature here is negative 58 degrees Fahrenheit.
04:38Everywhere you can see here could function as a very high-tech freezer.
04:42That's why some people are able to store their fruits or their meat just by hanging them outside their windows.
04:48Can I make a slab out of this?
04:51I just took off my gloves for just a minute for filming.
05:11Now it hurts terribly.
05:13My eyelashes are frozen through.
05:15I'm trying to break the ice.
05:16Move.
05:17Move.
05:18If you would stay outside for more than 15 minutes.
05:21You would experience problems such as skin burns and difficulty in breathing.
05:26Chill that starts with a needle prick like pain.
05:29Frostbite followed by sensation.
05:32And then it could result in death.
05:37She took off her gloves for just 5 minutes.
05:42To film me.
05:43Her fingertips instantly turned white.
05:46Our microphone is giving a red warning.
05:49It is not working properly.
05:51The camera is also not working as it should.
05:54Its cover is frozen.
05:58Our phones don't work as well.
06:00Her battery was about 10% a couple of minutes ago.
06:04And then it suddenly died.
06:05Whereas it was actually full.
06:07What you see behind me is a cemetery.
06:09The thickness of the ice under my shoes is about 100 foot.
06:13And this ice mass under the city does not melt even in the summer.
06:17So how do people bury the dead?
06:19They gather pieces of coal and burn them for 2-3 days.
06:23Once the coal is burnt, the blocks of ice fall.
06:26And it can be easily removed using shovels.
06:29Finally, the area can be excavated to a depth of 6-7 feet.
06:33The body of a person who died 100 or 200 years ago can be found very robust even today.
06:3920% of the world's total diamond reserves are in Yakutsk.
06:47In addition to that, there are also all the elements in the periodic table.
06:52There are many mammoth and dinosaur parcels under the Yakutia territories.
06:58In these areas where mammoths once removed, their intact corpses still show up as the ice melts today.
07:07In this land where people cannot engage in agriculture or farming, people eat fish.
07:12One of the most important features of this market is that they display the fish in public stalls rather than in refrigerators.
07:19Outside is much colder than any refrigerator.
07:23A piece of meat left outside won't spoil for months.
07:28There are also frozen rabbits here.
07:31They are consumed a lot, including with the ducks.
07:35Horse meat is also very common.
07:37It is about 45 pounds.
07:39They take this fish as a whole, put it outside and consume it for days.
07:43This one is also on sale.
07:45It never spoils of course.
07:47These ears are not moving at all.
07:50How many hours do you work here for a day?
07:54For how long does you do this?
08:00How many layers of floating are provided?
08:04They stand on such furs, they do not feel the cold coming to their front.
08:09They stand on such first, they do not feel the cold coming to their front.
08:14Without such furs, they do not feel the cold coming to their feet.
08:21Yakutin people who make up the majority of the population are Turkic in origin.
08:2638% of the population are Russian in origin.
08:36There are only such dogs here. Unfortunately, cats cannot survive.
08:40Only mammals with a really thick fur.
08:43There are two layers of glass inside the cars.
08:46So when the air conditioner warms the interior, it doesn't lose its temperature immediately.
08:52The scariest thing about being on the road is that people whose cars break down
08:56have a risk of dying if they cannot fix it within 30 minutes.
09:00Otherwise, engine oil under the hood freezes in minutes.
09:04If people get stranded in these rural areas with no phone signal,
09:08they have no choice but to freeze to death within a couple of hours.
09:12That's why every driver carries a toolbox in his or her car.
09:18Our journey to the village was completed with a dog sled ride.
09:26During our time on the dog sled, I nearly lost an ear that was exposed to the wind and the cold.
09:32The pain was unbearable.
09:40Maria just accepted us to her village house.
09:42We are going to know more about these mysterious Yakut people.
09:45Can you see it as thick as my finger?
09:48I cannot feel it.
09:49It's quite numb.
09:50Look, my other ear is much thinner.
09:54Horses here are much shorter than the usual horses.
09:57Their bodies are conditioned to be short.
09:59That's how they can keep themselves warmer.
10:01Less surface area to worry about.
10:03They gave us their own clothes.
10:05They bundled up.
10:13You can tell by looking at the frozen boat that we are walking on a frozen lake.
10:20We try to hit it at a 90 degree angle.
10:22We just drill it 20 to 25 inch diameter hole.
10:25Cows will come and meet their water needs.
10:28We are constantly removing the ice.
10:30How long it takes for this water to again completely covered with ice?
10:35In one hour.
10:37Cows in this village are always kept in the barns in winter.
10:40Cows in winter.
10:50They don't ever feel cold?
10:51They do, of course.
10:52That's why they don't have much time outside.
10:58What exactly?
10:59Your ear got first bitten.
11:01If it lasted longer, it would be very dangerous.
11:04They would have to cut it, right?
11:05If they cannot save it, they can cut it.
11:08Because the cells are dead.
11:10For your ear, it's a traditional Yakut medicine.
11:13Fat of bear.
11:15Bear?
11:16Yeah.
11:17My father took it from hunters.
11:20Yes.
11:21This will help for spitter.
11:22And also if you burn it.
11:24If you look at it from behind, you'll see it more clearly.
11:27It is seriously swollen and they call it frostbite.
11:30I will probably have risked my entire ear if I had been in the cold for more than 15 minutes.
11:35The nature has no joke here.
11:37What is the coldest temperature you have ever witnessed?
11:41The coldest temperature is negative 71 Celsius.
11:44What is cold for you?
11:46If I have good clothes, if I have enough clothes.
11:49Before negative 40, it's not like real winter temperature for me.
11:54Negative 41, negative 48, it's like fine.
11:57Below negative 48, it's cold.
12:00And below negative 52, it's very cold.
12:04And every degree feels...
12:06The funny thing is like cold weather feels like fire.
12:09Like burning.
12:11Yeah, that's true.
12:13Now my ear is burning.
12:15Yeah.
12:16I feel it's so hot.
12:18Sometimes people drink too much and they fall asleep somewhere outside.
12:24And one night outside, some people didn't have proper clothes and they went to the woods and their car broke down.
12:36They couldn't call someone because no phone service.
12:40Yeah, and it ended.
12:42What do you think about nature?
12:44The whole lifestyle of Yakut people, of Saha people, it's taking care of nature, respecting it.
12:51Early childhood, me and my family, we used to go to the woods to fish, to hunt.
12:57It's just a part of our life.
12:59And we always remember that we are not the owners of this land.
13:05We are just guests.
13:07For example, we always make a ritual.
13:10When we go to pick some berries, we always take a little food with us.
13:15We leave it on the ground and say, nature, please share with us.
13:19Please give us some food.
13:21It's for the master of that land, for the spirit.
13:24You believe nature has a spirit?
13:26Yeah.
13:27For example, when we go to the forest, you shouldn't speak loud because you can't disturb the spirits.
13:34You shouldn't drink there, have fun there, throw the garbage.
13:39Don't bother, don't disturb, don't destroy.
13:42Yakut religion is not something which is written in a book or there is a church.
13:48There is one center of our religion, but it's not something that like in other religions that we do every day we should pray.
14:00We don't do something like that.
14:02But it's in our mind.
14:04It's in our lifestyle.
14:06And it's all related to nature.
14:09For what you have, you thank nature instead of gods.
14:13The gods are nature.
14:16Our gods are like part of the nature.
14:19Now I understand.
14:20Yeah.
14:21Why don't you migrate to south?
14:23Why it's warmer?
14:25Because living in these temperatures is like torture.
14:29It's a torture for you, but not for us.
14:33The first reason is my family.
14:35My family is here.
14:36And for me, the best is to be close to my parents, my brothers.
14:41And secondly, I like the nature here.
14:43It's very pure.
14:44The ecology is very pure.
14:47And for me and for my future children, breathing fresh air, it's very important.
14:54Third, because of our culture, I want to preserve our language, our traditions and give them to the nation.
15:03In generations.
15:04Yakutsk has summers as well.
15:06In July, the average daily temperature is about 67 degrees Fahrenheit.
15:11Due to global warming, ice mass of our world is melting and mammoth curbses are coming up.
15:17But also, viruses fighting for thousands of years, which modern humans have never met before, can come to light.
15:24When Europeans migrated to North America, the flu they took with themselves to the continent,
15:30and killed most of the Native Americans who had been isolated for centuries.
15:34The flu didn't kill us because our immune system was strong.
15:38Similarly, ancient diseases to which we are not immune, can come to light with the melting of the ice in these regions of the world,
15:45and have devastating consequences.
15:53This video was the first episode of a tribal documentary series called Rediscovery.
15:58I go to unique places which are not known to many and make a documentary about them with a comprehensive approach.
16:04The next coming video on this channel will be second episode of Rediscovery.
16:08I went inside of this huge ice mass and discovered the permafrost.
16:13During the whole documentary series, we got to know more about incredible daily life in negative 67 degrees Fahrenheit,
16:20these mysterious Yakut people and their surprising culture.
16:23If you don't want to miss that video and to watch all of our videos, definitely subscribe.
16:28I would also like to thank my team for creating this project with me.
16:32Goodbye now.
16:33Ruhi Cnet was here.
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