Marta Beatriz Echaul doesn’t get up before 8.
She reads the news and, around noon, leaves her home in Retiro for Pompeya, where Santa Marta, the transportation company she still runs at 100, is waiting for her. She gets behind the wheel. She renews her license every year and says she feels very safe on the road.
When asked about her secret to longevity, her answer turned every rulebook on its head: she never went to the gym, doesn’t walk, and eats everything. “Everyone wants to know my secret, but it’s impossible to say”, she said. She does have one piece of advice for women: never sell your car, “because that’s freedom”. For her, it’s an extension of her arms.
She was widowed many years ago and continues to live on her own terms: her inner circle consists of her daughter and a grandson (“there are few of us, but we’re very close”), and she still gets together for meals with several married couples who are friends, although some can no longer walk. To her, what’s important is to live, not vegetate.