Aged Aymara

"I should be about 100 years old or more," says native Aymara Carmelo Flores Laura. He lives in a straw-roofed hut near Lake Titicaca in Bolivia and works herding sheep and cattle. In fact, he is 123, and that makes him the oldest living person ever documented, since he beats Frenchwoman Jeanne Calment (1875-1997) by a year. Bolivian authorities present a Roman Catholic baptismal certificate as proof of his age, since his birth on July 16, 1890, precedes the issue of birth certificates by 50 years! Flores speaks in a firm voice and walk without a cane, although he has lost some of his sight and hearing (and all of his teeth). He told the Associated Press reporters who came to interview him, "I see a bit dimly. I had good vision before. But I saw you coming."

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