123-Year-Old Man Found in Bolivia? Baptism Certificate Points to 1890 Birth
A man from Bolivia is believed to be the oldest person ever after preliminary reports reveal that man is 123 years old and was born in 1890.
There had been reports that an official with Guinness World Records but a Jamie Panas, a spokesman with the organization, said he was not aware of a claim being filed for the Bolivian.
Carmelo Flores Laura lives in a hut in the village of Frasquia, near Lake Titicaca which is located at an elevation of 13,300 feet. Laura can walk on his own and does not need to wear glasses, but that Bolivian does not speak Spanish and has lost all of his teeth.
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The director of Bolivia's civil registrar, Eugenio Condori, showed journalists the registry that lists Flores' birth date as July 16, 1890. The certificate was a baptismal certificate that was given by a local Roman Catholic Church at the time since office birth certificates were not issued in the country until 1940.
Laura says that knows what the key to longevity is and it is getting out in the fresh mountain air and eating certain foods.
"I walk a lot, that's all. I go out with the animals … I don't eat noodles or rice, only barley. I used to grow potatoes, beans," according to AP.
While he currently drinks only water coming off the mountain he did drink alcohol as a young man and can remember hunting foxes in his youth.
His grandson, Edwin Flores, still lives next door with his wife and their two children and revealed that his grandfather worked on a ranch until 1952. In Frasquia most of the resident are elderly or middle-aged because most of the younger adults moved to the cities to find higher paying work.
