Carmelo Flores Laura lives in Bolivia, speaks no Spanish and has no teeth, and he is also 123-years old, according to public records and reported by the Associated Press.
Flores Laura lives in a hut with a straw roof near Lake Titicaca at an elevation of 13,100 feet above sea level. He is illiterate, but walks without a cane and doesn't wear glasses.
"I see a bit dimly," he told reporters from the Associated Press. "I had good vision before, but I saw you coming."
Flores Laura chews coca leaf, a stimulant and ingredient in cocaine. Chewing the substance is a common practice in Bolivia, and Flores Laura has been chewing it his entire life.
"I should be about 100 years old or more," Flores Laura said.
Flores Laura fought in the 1933 Chaco war with Paraguay, though his memory of the time isn't clear.
A registry lists Flores Laura's birth date as July 16, 1890, according to a document that Eugenio Condori, the director of Bolivia's civil registrar, showed the Associated Press. Birth certificates didn't exist in Bolivia until 1940. Prior to that, they were registered with baptism certificates provided by Roman Catholic priests.
"For the state, the baptism certificate is valid," Condori said. However, that document is private and was not shown to reporters.
Flores attributes his age to his diet and exercise.
"I walk a lot, that's all," he said. "I go out with the animals.
"I don't eat noodles or rice, only barley," Flores Laura continued. "I used to grow potatoes, beans, oca."
His age hasn't been verified by Guinness World Records, who currently say the oldest living person verified by proof of birth is Misao Okawa, a Japanese woman who is 115-years old. The oldest verified age is 122 years and 164 days, held by Jeanne Calment, a woman who died in France in 1997. Guinness isn't aware of any claim being filed regarding Flores Laura.
Video footage of Carmelo Flores Laura.
This article is copyrighted by Travelers Today, the travel news leader
