An Argentine man has lived in a cave in northern Argentina for nearly four decades, enjoying the perks of embracing nature and not having to pay rent.

Pedro Luca, a 79-year-old, uses a creek as his main source of water, and hunts wild animals in the mountains for his main source of food.

“Fire is magical,” he tells AP via the New York Times, as he talks about starting a fire to begin his daily routine.

Luca lives in his cave in northern Tucuman province with 11 roosters and two goats.

Luca Goes into Town

The only time Luca goes into town is when he has to collect his government pension for senior citizens. He goes to the post office in San Pedro Colalao for the pension of up to $200 a month.

Luca also buys candles, yeast and corn with his pension. He holds a radio powered by batteries as his only source of technology up in the mountains.

People from town know of his home in the caves and often give him food and supplies. Local school children and tourists also visit his cave.

Why Live in Cave

"I never asked myself why I chose to live here," Luca says.

"There was another cave nearby but I liked this one better. Sometimes, I think that I would have liked to travel the world, see Europe,” he added. “But there's a lot of sea in the middle of it all and you have to have the time to cross that sea."

Luca says ever since he was a little boy, he has always wanted to live in the wild. When he was just 14 years old, he traveled to northern Argentina to make money transporting coal to Bolivia.

Surviving the Wild

Luca looks younger than an average 80-year-old, although his skin is rough from living in the wild and he does not have much teeth left.

The elderly man travels three miles each day by foot to get to his cave after a day of hunting.

Primitive Technology

Want to spend a day living like Luca?

Primitive Technology is a DIY YouTube Channel that shows people how to make primitive huts and tools from scratch using only natural materials in the wild.

Check out the Primitive Technology blog for detailed instructions on how to make huts and tools. The YouTube user is based in Australia.

Here is a video on how to make a mud hut:

Here is a video on how to make charcoal:

Here is a video on how to make a stone axe:

Related