Tranquillity. So, bluntly, lady Elvia Rosa Natera from Consuegra says that this is the secret to reach 100 years healthy. It is a feeling that she has become her life partner and that not even the covid-19 pandemic could separate them.
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She says it sitting in her furnished wheelchair, with her legs stretched out, under the shade of a leafy mango tree planted decades ago in the large patio of her home, a traditional mansion in the Guayabal neighborhood, in the municipality of Baranoa ( Atlantic).
There, approximately 50 minutes from Barranquilla, she spends most of the day, but not alone. You are surrounded by Maravilla and Blaky Andrés, their dogs; Copito de Nieve and Morinda, his cats; some parakeets and a cockatoo that interrupt the prevailing silence and put the melody in the background; and her granddaughter Deisy Sarmiento, who does not lose sight of her for a second.
“I feel fine right now, in this heat…”, he says before letting out a laugh caused by the wind that messed up his white hair, which he rearranged by running his right hand through his hair.
But the 31 ° C and the sun in all its splendor, without a hint of rain, that suffocate the population do not bother Natera. On the contrary, it is a kick for him to tell his story and so many anecdotes about cock feeding.
The childhood of Elvia Natera
At present I cannot tell you how the campaigns are going, give me a few more days and I will tell you
Born February 14, 1922 in the house where he currently lives, which, as he recalls without fear of being wrong, was made of straw until it was rebuilt with material, as it is today.
He attended school during primary school and since then he has participated in political meetings in the region, spaces in which he ended up learning what he knows today. It was there in those meetings that they served to meet Fausto Consuegra, a follower of the Liberal party, whom she later accepted as her husband.
The couple organized and formed a home with nine children, five of whom are still alive. The family grew up with 19 grandchildren and 19 great-grandchildrensome work in the field of teaching and others intervene in politics, a topic that he likes to talk about and listen to.
“Currently I can’t tell you how the campaigns are going, give me a few more days and I’ll tell you. What I can tell you is that they are going to come out better than before, because my granddaughter is here to represent us”, she expresses with pride and between laughs, which is why she has gotten into the habit of turning on the radio in the morning, every time her relative is going to intervene in the informative stations of the town.
There is no need to repeat the questions to Mrs. Natera, nor the conversations in which she participates daily, either in person or by phone. She puts her ears to work perfectly and the dialogue flows, other times she listens fandango, his favorite music; and on other occasions he has no problem stopping to listen to the melodious occurrences of the parakeets. At 100 years old, she has only been losing part of her vision.
Elvia Natera has no problem calling her grandchildren’s attention for any detail.
The time he got covid-19
I didn’t feel anything. I am going to tell you why: because I am quiet, I do not go to the street, I eat well, I have a good breakfast
And it is that the centenarian has healthy habits, which range from getting up early and praying to taking a walk in her wheelchair through the neighborhoods surrounding her place of residence, when evening falls.
“She still has a notion of time, she knows that we are in politics, in Carnival, she tells her granddaughters that they stop visiting her for a week. She likes bollo e ‘yucca, stewed chicken, Creole egg, she eats fish. At night she is given her pear juice and a nutritional supplement or fruit is given to her as a snack, ”says granddaughter Deisy.
Mrs. Natera’s care has increased, as she was diagnosed as hypertensive and six months ago she was positive for covid-19, after taking the test. Though she surprises everyone by stating how she felt about herself.
“I didn’t feel anything. I am going to tell you why: because I am quiet, I do not go to the street, I eat well, have a good breakfast, do my things quietly, nobody says anything, I walk calmly. I am a very calm girl, ”says the baranoera.
This is how Natera de Consuegra looked during the celebration of her 100 years together with her great-grandchildren.
They will not reach 100 years of age by putting things in their hair, gray hair does not hide, gray hair is wisdom
The symptoms that afflicted her, although apparently not entirely as indicated, were headache and rhinitis, so he had to suspend both walks in the municipality and visits to his home. Before becoming infected, he had applied a dose of the vaccine.
Of those two isolated weeks, she emerged victorious “thank God”, she repeats over and over again. And with more desire to continue partying at the tip of fandango, without leaving aside good food. oh! And to draw attention to the granddaughters who dye their hair, because she says that everything must be natural.
“They will not reach 100 years of age by putting things in their hair, gray hair does not hide, gray hair is wisdom. I tell young people not to be separated, to walk together, to be on the right path and not to go astray”, says Elvia Natera.
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This is how they celebrated the centenary
On February 14, the celebration of the centenary of this baranoera could not ignore, although Deisy Sarmiento points out that it was somewhat prudent, since the covid-19 has not gone away. Therefore, they held a family meeting at his house.
“Doctors have always advised us that because of his age his closest circle is always there. All their children attended, their children’s children and their children’s children’s children (laughs)”, says Sarmiento.
The living room of the house was decorated with pink, violet and salmon balloons, a large cake, enough for everyone to eat, a portrait of Doña Natera and the number 100 to go down in history on the centenary of a survivor of covid-19, in the midst of total tranquility.
Deivis Lopez Ortega
Correspondent of EL TIEMPO Barranquilla
On twitter: @dejholopez
Write me at deilop@eltiempo.com
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