Man from Bolivia may be the oldest living person ever known.

[Outlaw]

I think this earns a thread:

FRASQUIA, Bolivia

If Bolivia's public records are correct, Carmelo Flores Laura is the oldest living person ever documented.

They say he turned 123 a month ago.

The native Aymara lives in a straw-roofed dirt-floor hut in an isolated hamlet near Lake Titicaca at 13,100 feet, is illiterate, speaks no Spanish and has no teeth.

He walks without a cane and doesn't wear glasses. And though he speaks Aymara with a firm voice, one must talk into his ear to be heard.

"I see a bit dimly. I had good vision before. But I saw you coming," he tells Associated Press journalists who visit after a local TV report touts him as the world's oldest person.

Hobbling down a dirt path, Flores greets them with a raised arm, smiles and sits down on a rock. His gums bulge with coca leaf, a mild stimulant that staves off hunger. Like most Bolivian highlands peasants, he has been chewing it all his life.

Guinness World Records says the oldest living person verified by original proof of birth is Misao Okawa, a 115-year-old Japanese woman. The verified world's oldest man is Salustiano Sanchez-Blazquez, who lives in western New York state. The oldest verified age was 122 years and 164 days: Jeanne Calment of France, who died in 1997.

Robert Young, senior gerontology consultant with Guinness World Records, said 90 percent of all supercentenarians are female and Salustiano is currently the only male born in 1901 with proof of birth.

Guinness spokeswoman Jamie Panas said it wasn't aware of a claim being filed for the Bolivian.

"I should be about 100 years old or more," Flores says. But his memory is dim.

Flores' 27-year-old grandson Edwin says Flores fought in the 1933 Chaco war with Paraguay but he only faintly remembers.

The director of Bolivia's civil registrar, Eugenio Condori, showed The Associated Press the registry that lists Flores' birthdate as July 16, 1890.

Condori said birth certificates did not exist in Bolivia until 1940. Births previously were registered with baptism certificates provided by Roman Catholic priests.

"For the state, the baptism certificate is valid," Condori said. He said he couldn't show Flores' baptism certificate to the AP because it is a private document.

To what does Flores owe his longevity?

"I walk a lot, that's all. I go out with the animals," says Flores, who long herded cattle and sheep. "I don't eat noodles or rice, only barley. I used to grow potatoes, beans, oca (an Andean tuber)."

The water Flores drinks originates on the snow-capped peak of Illampu, one of Bolivia's highest.

He says he doesn't drink alcohol, but imbibed some in his youth. He's eaten a lot of mutton, and though he likes pork it is hardly available. He fondly remembers hunting and eating fox as a younger man.

Flores says he has never been farther afield than La Paz, 80 kilometers (50 miles) away, and has never been seriously ill.

He sorely misses his wife, who died more than a decade ago. Of their three children only one is still alive: Cecilio, age 67. There are 40 grandchildren and 19 great-grandchildren but most have left Frasquia, a dozen homes a two-hour walk from the nearest road.

Edwin Flores, who lives next door with his wife and their two children, says his grandfather worked for the rancher who owned Frasquia until 1952, when the state seized major holdings in an agrarian reform and parceled them out to peasants.

Although electrical power arrived three years ago, time seems to have stood still in Frasquia. Peasants still prepare chuno, or dehydrated and chilled potatoes, and till the soil with ox-driven plows. Donkeys bray and sheep and cattle graze.

Most everyone is elderly or middle-aged. The young people are mostly gone.

http://www.cbsnews.com/8301-202_162-...er-documented/

To put this in perspective..

When the Wright brothers made their first flight he was already a teenager.

When man landed on the moon he was old enough to be your grandfather.

When the Soviet Union was dissolved he was already over 100.

[Skjie]

But he didn't have children until he was over 60? Seems fishy.

[Jaybar]

Seems cool, but a whole lot of unsure. Him and his son must have been very old when they reared their children. That doesn't quite make much sense but whatever.

edit: They clearly age as slow as my response.

[Mazmaz]

Did they come out retarded?

[Kanriel]

The article says the only living one is 67, making him 55/56 at time of birth. Fair chance that's the youngest, so maybe he was in his 40's or earlier 50's before having children. But I'm not sure about this article, timing seems a bit off. Engaging in a war when he was supposed to be 43? Wouldn't put it past someone from the 3rd world, but doesn't seem extremely likely.

[Cantih]

Did they come out retarded?

I can only assume your dad was 90 when he had you then.

Anyways, personally, I'm not really going to trust extreme age counts until we hit 2050 or so, once most of the world was on board with much more reliable recordkeeping.

[Takedown3]

having kids at 70 has serious risk associated with it, despite mazmaz being mazmaz his comment has merit.

[Silenka]

Win the genetic lottery, walk a lot, eat mostly barley and sheep, drink from snow capped mountains, and chew coca leaf your whole life and you, too, can live to over 120.

I guess sedentary computer-ism, a diet of ramen, pizza and soda and chewing whatever candy happens to be available probably isn't going to do it for me.

[kuronosan]

Having kids at 70 might have serious risks for women. Men continue to produce viable sperm until they die. The number might decrease or fluctuate, but unlike women (whose hormones determine fetal development) men have no worries when it comes to producing offspring at older ages in most cases.

Honestly as long as the man produces a healthy level of testosterone there really would be no issues producing children.

I'm aware there are many articles that say "older" fathers contribute greatly to genetic defects but there really isn't much more on the subject that absolutely proves it.

[Jaybar]

I certainly am not questioning the validity of senior births, but I am questioning why a man and his son in a seemingly 3rd world country are doing so. Sociology would presume it is the reverse.

[Tokitoki]

I certainly am not questioning the validity of senior births, but I am questioning why a man and his son in a seemingly 3rd world country are doing so. Sociology would presume it is the reverse.

There are 40 grandchildren and 19 great-grandchildren but most have left Frasquia, a dozen homes a two-hour walk from the nearest road.

They're having as many kids as possible. 3 children, 40 grandchildren? They're fucking rabbits.

[archibaldcrane]

So um, let's see that Baptism certificate?

[Callisto]

So um, let's see that Baptism certificate?

It's signed by John the Baptist

[Tokitoki]

It's signed by John the Baptist

HAH!

If the guy/family would like to have him entered in the world records they'll share it. Until then we're SOL.

[Vuitton]

They're having as many kids as possible. 3 children, 40 grandchildren? They're fucking rabbits.

They're poor farmers living in the middle of nowhere. Having kids is what you do because you can't afford machinery so you have kids to help you out with shit like digging up potatoes. I also doubt that any of them practice any form of contraception or would even know what that is. Not saying they're stupid, they're just isolated rural people.

[Jaybar]

I somehow missed the part about number of children he had.

[Mazmaz]

I'm aware there are many articles that say "older" fathers contribute greatly to genetic defects but there really isn't much more on the subject that absolutely proves it.

It's scientific papers...
http://www.nature.com/news/fathers-b...ey-age-1.11247

[shepardG]

I can only assume your dad was 90 when he had you then.

ROFL I FUCKING LOST IT.

[shepardG]

I can only assume your dad was 90 when he had you then.

ROFL I FUCKING LOST IT.

it's a double but appropriate cause still laughing.

[Moss]

only a matter of time before he fades into bolivion