(Image source from: Meet the worlds oldest living person})

If Bolivia's public records are to be believed, then Carmelo Flores Laura is the oldest living person on earth. He turned 123 a month back.

This Aymara native, who lives in a straw-roofed dirt-floor hut in an isolated hamlet near Lake Titicaca, is illiterate, has no teeth, cannot walk without a cane and doesn't wear glasses.

"I see a bit dimly. I had good vision before. But I saw you coming," he says.

Guinness World Records says the oldest living person verified by original proof of birth is Misao Okawa, a 115-year-old Japanese woman. The oldest verified age was 122 years and 164 days: Jeanne Calment of France, who died in 1997. Guinness spokeswoman Jamie Panas said it wasn't aware of a claim being filed for the Bolivian.

"I should be about 100 years old or more," Flores says. But his memory is dim.

Flores' 27-year-old grandson Edwin says Flores fought in the 1933 Chaco war with Paraguay but he only faintly remembers.

The director of Bolivia's civil registrar, Eugenio Condori, showed the registry that lists Flores' birthdate as July 16, 1890.

Condori said birth certificates did not exist in Bolivia until 1940. Births previously were registered with baptism certificates provided by Roman Catholic priests.

"For the state, the baptism certificate is valid," Condori said. He said he couldn't show Flores' baptism certificate to the AP because it is a private document.

AW: Suchorita Dutta