Centenarians of the Andes

In 1975 a book of this name was published, written by an English gerontologist called Dr David Davies. He was one of a number of medical researchers who had descended upon the remote Andean town of Vilcabamba in Ecuador, following reports  that the inhabitants enjoyed extraordinary longevity with record numbers of centenarians. Journalists and tourists flocked in to marvel at geriatric farmers and shepherds pursuing their simple, hard-working lives decades past their 100th birthdays. The special properties of Vilcabamba's water, the air and the diet were all deemed to account for the exceptional health of its people. But then the bubble burst:  careful examination of the census records revealed that there had been some confusion over birth dates  with many people bearing the same names as their forefathers too, and there were in fact no centenarians in the town. Old people in their 80s had been adding extra years at random and enjoying all the attention while the overall boost to the economy had benefited the community as a whole. The whole story can be found here.

My blip shows an authentic centenarian of the Andes.  It's the poncho my father acquired when he was a very young man. I don't know where he got it - he never visited South America - but he loved it and kept it all his life. It was in frequent use when I was a child, as an extra blanket on winter nights or as a picnic rug in the summer. Frayed and threadbare,  it survives still. How do I know its age? The extras show my father wearing it in the Swiss Alps in 1915.  In both  he's at a nachtlager (bivouac or night shelter) with rucksack, ropes and ice axe, probably with just one climbing companion. These expeditions were his happiest times; he relished the solitude of the mountains, relieved to have escaped from family tension, socialising, formality and routine. 
He's been dead almost 50 years - I wonder if he ever imagined his poncho would reach such a grand old age?