Vilcabamba, Ecuador

Located in a historical and scenic valley, it is a common destination for tourists, in part because it is widely believed that its inhabitants live to a very old age.

Locals assert that it is not uncommon to see a person reach 100 years of age and it is claimed that many have lived to 120 and even to 135, which would make it an area with the oldest inhabitants in the world.

[citation needed] In 1973 Dr. Alexander Leaf of Harvard Medical School introduced these people to the rest of the world in his cover story for National Geographic Magazine.

[1] According to The Bewildering History of the History of Longevity[2] by Peter Laslett, ‘geographical variation in the incidence of long life is no doubt a reality but better general survival does not demonstrably raise the probability of extreme ages and systematic, sceptical analysis of these confidently asserted propositions has condemned them as entirely baseless.’ Longevity in Vilcabamba has been attributed to nothing more special than the benefits of exercise, a healthy diet and good treatment of the elderly by the community.

Even as Vilcabamba's international fame grew, scientists continued to investigate the secret of the villagers' longevity, but some were beginning to grow skeptical.

Further, they reported that "Life expectancy (corrected for exaggeration) at all ages in Vilcabamba (and Loja) is, in fact, less than in the U.S." Mazess and Forman identified two sources of error.

Leaf speculated that the international publicity, and subsequent rise in tourism, may have encouraged the villagers' exaggerations to grow more prolific.