Bolivia  recently and officially honored one of its citizens as the oldest person still living and ever documented who turned 123 in July 2013.
The “Living Heritage of Humanity” award will be presented to indigenous farmer Carmelo Flores Laura whose birth date of July 16, 1890 has been officially confirmed by Bolivia’s Civil Registry Office as legitimate using his baptismal certificate. Birth certificates issued by the Bolivian government did not exist until 1940.
Flores Laura walks without a cane, does not wear glasses, and has never been seriously ill. Â He credits the traditional Andean diet as key to his robust health and amazing accomplishment as the oldest person living.
Quinoa grains, riverside mushrooms, mutton and coca leaves form the mainstay of his diet along with pristine spring water flowing down from the snow capped Andes mountains. Coca leaves are a mild stimulant that stave off hunger. Mr. Flores Laura says he has chewed them all his life.
Mr. Flores Laura also enjoys pork but eats it rarely as he finds it hard to procure and no doubt to chew as he no longer has any teeth.
“Potatoes with quinoa are delicious,” he says. He does not eat noodles or rice – only barley and quinoa as his preferred grain based foods. Chuno is a traditional Andean food prepared with dehydrated and chilled potatoes.
He also walks a lot with his animals as he is a longtime herder of cattle and sheep. He used to grow potatoes, beans and oca, an Andean tuber, tilling the ground with ox-driven plows still used today by those in his village. In his youth, he hunted and ate fox and occasionally consumed alcohol.
Mr. Flores Laura lives in a dirt floor, straw roofed hut about 80 kilometers from La Paz, the de facto capital of Bolivia which is the furthest he has ever traveled. His village sits at 13,100 feet high! He speaks only his native Amyara language and not a word of Spanish.
The Guinness World Records currently lists the oldest person living as verified by original proof of birth as Misao Okawa, a 115-year-old Japanese woman. Guinness spokeswoman Jamie Panas stated that the organization was not aware of a claim being filed for the Bolivian, although it seems this may change in the coming weeks given the Bolivian government’s authentication of Mr. Flores Laura’s birth records.
Sarah, The Healthy Home Economist
Sources:
Quinoa, Mushrooms and Coca Have Kept Me Alive for 123 Years
Is Bolivian peasant Carmelo Flores Laura oldest person ever documented?
Carmelo Flores Laura, Aymara Herder, May Be Oldest Living Person EVERÂ
There are different reports on this man floating around. Some mention he eats SKUNK MEAT. But don’t freak, it’s not skunk animal meat. 1) Skunks don’t live in his area 2) it means meat heavily spiced with CORIANDER.
In reference to the comments at the top of page.
That is whats wrong with this country now, people have gotten away from the Bible.
Amen
I read another blog on this man. Another article out there said he eats lots of skunk meat–everyone had a good chuckle and said they’d rater die young than eat skunk.
It turns out that skunk meat is slang for meat spiced heavily with coriander.
In Spanish the Bolivian Coriander plant is referred to as ‘mampuitu’ which translates to “skunk”.
wow! give it up people! Talk about over reacting from both sides!!! Sheesh!!!
strangest comments thread for this post… lol
Gosh I love this website Sarah. A year ago I was giving my two year old soy milk and shop-bought Japanese rice crackers, even organic cornflakes!! Sadly he was born via emergency c-section and although I breast fed, I always worried about his gut flora. Now we’re on raw milk, daily bone broth, sprouted grains, kefir and kombucha. I’m three months pregnant with my second child and can’t wait to be feeding it liver and eggs!! (And breast milk of course). You have changed my life- I feel connected to generations of mothers past and so humbled to nourish my family. There is so much power in these skills you offer others. I have spread the word and have a growing community of mamas on the right track here in my city in Australia. Thank you!x
Thank you Charlie 🙂 I have had the privilege of visiting Australia several times and feel very connected with my Aussie readers. My hubby is actually from Melbourne!
I am dying to get to heaven! But I am not trying to kill myself either. This man’s diet is just not fun and I think that I would choose to eat the foods that I eat now and live till when God calls me home.
Methuselah? Are you serious? Do you really believe a man lived 969 years?
Yes Mary I believe it too. We Bible believing people are a strange bunch. We also believe a Man rose from the dead, crazy huh? 😀 I was serious shocked by your comment of disbelief.
And I am truly shocked and appalled by your unchrist-like reply. Perhaps walking as He did is beyond the scope of your faith. He would NOT have responded like that. You want to be given space for your belief but offer no room for others who believe differently than you. Your faith should not be based upon whether other people agree or disagree with you. There is room in this world for all kinds of people.
And on to the important part…AMAZED that this man has lived 123yrs!! Looks like he has gotten plenty of Vit D…which is not mentioned in the article. 😉 I wish I could drink some true mountain spring water every single day!
Dolly Madison implied the ommission of Methuselah was an error on the part of the poster! Most educated people (including most Christians) regard him as a FICTIONAL character. You may believe he lived nearly a millenium–there are those who believe in vampires and werewolves–but that doesn’t mean the rest of us have to acknowledge his great feat as real. And why do conservative Christians assume the only worthwhile people in the world are other Christians??? You complain of my un-Christlike reply. What if I choose to emulate Buddah or Yahweh? If you’re so protective of your faith, stop throwing it in the path of others and complaining when they trip over it.
Just to clarify, I am pretty sure that MLC was replying to Sofia and stating that her reply to you was not Christ-like. I don’t think that him accusing you of that would make much sense as you didn’t claim any sort of religious affiliation while Sofia clearly identifies as a Christian.
Also, I think it is painting in pretty broad strokes to say that most Christians believe that Methuselah was a fictional character. It is more fair to say that educated Christians might question his age as reported in what we currently identify as a year, but I think you’ll find that there are plenty of Christians who don’t think that the whole Old Testament is just made up.
Anyway, for my part, whatever you chose to believe, I hope that you encounter Christians who are more interested in showing love and kindness than in being right all the time. As someone who considers herself a follower of Christ, it saddens me to see people so quick to judge while simultaneously being so unwilling to love those who are different from them.
Taryn, you’re right. I clearly misinterpreted MLC’s comment. I apologize, MLC. Actually, I’d like to apologize to all. I’m not usually so quick to anger, but I am often annoyed by comments synonymizing Christianity with love and kindness, such as “it’s the Christian thing to do,” being made to a general audience. Some of the kindest people I have met in my life have been non-Christians and to describe them as Christian-like seems disrespectful in the same way as that disgusting, bigoted phrase “that was white of you.”
How do you know how Christ would’ve responded?
Mary, I was thinking the same thing. So silly.
There are those who believe in the literal interpretation of the bible. Happlily it’s updated now and then, otherwise we would still be stoning for adultery.
Amen!
(See what I did there?)
2 Peter 3:3Knowing this first, that there shall come in the last days scoffers, walking after their own lusts, 4And saying, Where is the promise of his coming? for since the fathers fell asleep, all things continue as they were from the beginning of the creation. 5For this they willingly are ignorant of, that by the word of God the heavens were of old, and the earth standing out of the water and in the water: 6Whereby the world that then was, being overflowed with water, perished: 7But the heavens and the earth, which are now, by the same word are kept in store, reserved unto fire against the day of judgment and perdition of ungodly men.
Oldest EVER?
I guess people have forgotten about Methuselah &co…..
True, Dolly. I guess they should say the oldest person in modern history.
That’s true! There are some very well-documented historical people in the bible, but it’s amazing how old this guy is. Wish I could live in the mountains on that diet…but I *would* like a toothbrush. 🙂
Nah, we didn’t “forget” — it’s just that there’s very little proof that most things in your bible are real. So find Methuselah’s birth certificate and then we can talk.