101-year old Jacinta Zorrilla of Las Cuchillas, El Seibo province, says she grew up always having plenty to eat because her father was a farmer and rancher. She was interviewed as part of a series running in Listín Diario on centenarians in the Dominican Republic. “We ate a lot: a lot of meat, a lot of milk; there was a lot of cheese, there was everything,” she emphasized. She says she still enjoys eating rice, beans, meat, fruit and fried plantains.
She says her longevity is not about food. She says of 17 siblings, she is the only one that is alive. She said a healthy lifestyle complemented quality eating. She said she did not have vices, didn’t smoke or drink in excess, nor did she stay up all night, either.
She described herself as a hard-working woman who sewed in a workshop, her family’s business. She said when she married, the family moved to Santo Domingo because her husband wanted their children to get a better education. She had a daughter of her own, but raised three boys her husband in a previous marriage. Later the couple adopted another child.
Zorrilla is in good spirits, albeit mortified that she can no longer do house chores. She gets around in a wheelchair after falling and fracturing her hip. “I’m no longer good for anything,” she laments. She has suffered from some health complications, such as arthritis, osteoporosis and hypertension, but says she has outgrown these.
Now, her hobby is reading newspapers every day and listening to the rosary on a radio station. She is a religious woman. Her daughter Mireya says that every Sunday, her mom receives communion at a Catholic church. Since the death of her husband, Hipólito de la Cruz, in 1995, Zorrilla lives with her biological daughter.
Read more in Spanish:
Listin Diario
19 September 2019