The Oldest Man I Have Ever Met

I am currently living with an older couple in the country side. The Don -man of the household- is completely deaf. When I was talking to the Dona about how my parents are also hard of hearing she looked at me completely shocked. ¨But your parents are young,¨she said, ¨the Don is 101!¨ I couldn´t believe it. I mean I knew he was old, but 101!?

That officially makes him the oldest man I have ever met in my life. And every morning he gets up at 5 am and goes out on the farm with his machete to cut down plants and take care of the land! After asking around there are quite a few people in the area who have surpasses the 100 year mark.

I, of course, had to investigate more into this phenomenon. Do Dominicans know the secret to long life? Is the fountain of youth actual here? Did Ponce de Leon go to far North searching for it?

I decided to ask my technical trainer. He informed all of us that the tranquil lifestyle and less stress working environments probably to contribute to longer life spans. He also said that for a lot of the older people they don´t actually know the year of their birth, so they might be 100, or they might actually be 90. The margin of error is probably about 15 years.

Whatever the case is, my Don is old and still healthy and working hard. He has also become one of my favorite family members, even though he is almost completly deaf and I am sure has no clue why this American girl is living with them. He is a very sweet man and talks to me regardless if I don´t understand and if he can´t hear.