The Real Oldest Woman in the World

Okay, so I don't know if she really is the oldest woman in the world, but she's the oldest woman I know.

Her name is Sahndai (spelling uncertain). Is she not beautiful? She will turn 121 years old sometime this year. She lives in the little village of Los Patos in the Dominican Republic. Up until about 7 or 8 years ago, she still lived on her own in a rustic little cabin on what we refer to as "Grandpa's Mountain". She was born in 1888!! There is no documentation to prove this, so she won't make any books of World Records soon.

From my journal, July 2007:
"She is in amazing shape for a woman her age. She walked down the street to meet us at her daughter’s house. The daughter is 72 years old and the last of fourteen children. The oldest child is 97 and still going strong. When Joel introduced Todd (in the Dominican way—he didn’t pronounce the last sound of the word), Great- Grandma said in Spanish, “Ta? Ta? That sounds like poop!” She laughed out loud. So did we. Her sense of humor became further evident when she stood up, stuck out her back end and passed gas. Then she let out a roaring laugh. We were all so taken by surprise by this that we could do nothing but roar with her. She got quite a kick out of herself. When we showed her the pictures of her on our digital camera, she said, “Ai, caramba!” She was something. She thought my silver-white hair was pretty so we took a picture together. Our hair is the same color. When Steve asked how she lived so long, she attributed it to two things: 1) her name was taken off the “death list” and 2) Coffee! She loves her coffee. Arelis brought her a new mug to drink from. She grabbed it and put it to her lips and said, “Where’s my coffee? Where’s my coffee?” I think she enjoyed us as much as we enjoyed her."

Her son, Joel's grandfather, is 87 yrs. old. He took quite a liking to Clella, the 81 yr. old on the trip with us. Rumor has it that he is quite a ladies man and is the father to many children of numerous mothers in the community.

"One thing we noticed about grandpa, great-grandma and the uncles is just how healthy they are. They have good teeth and good health. They are all spry and in great shape. We attribute it to all the natural foods they eat and the hard work they do." I guess a lot can be said about beans, rice, avocado, mango, and fish! I LOVED eating in the DR.Joel and his Grandpa, the ladies man.