Based on Bolivia's public records, they have a 123-year-old man living in a straw-roofed hut near Lake Titicaca. The man identified as Carmelo Flores Laura is illiterate and cannot speak Spanish.
At 123-years-old, Laura does not need a cane and does not use eyeglasses. He told journalists who went to the isolated hamlet to visit him, "I see a bit dimly. I had good vision before. But I saw you coming."
He was chewing coco leaf -a leaf that many Bolivian peasants chew on to stave off hunger. When asked how old he was, Laura said, "I should be about 100 years old or more." The civil registrar of Bolivia Eugenio Condori showed the country's records that the herder was born July 16, 1890.
Laura says he only eats barley for carbs and have never eaten noodles or rice. He also attributes his good health and long life to walking everyday aside from a healthy diet and enjoying the mild stimulant coco leaf -used in making coke. Melo as he is fondly called by the people who know him says, "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, oca (an Andean tuber)."
According to representatives of the Guinness Book of Records, no one has filed a documentation of Flores Laura's birth details so him being the oldest man in the world is not yet official. Guinness must verify this before Laura can officially overtake French Jeanne Calment who died at the age of 122 in the year 1997.
Laura also added that another secret to his good health is eating fox and skunk meat. He also avoids sugar as much as he can.
The Ayamara Indian has three children, 16 grandchildren, and 39 great grandchildren.
© 2017 Jobs & Hire All rights reserved. Do not reproduce without permission.
