Old age is analyzed from two points of view; that one of the no-so-elderly ones, who perceive the experience of old age without still living it; and that of the elderly people, who perceive it as of their own specific experiences. The common axis of both perspectives is the associations among elderly people with activity and productivity (jobs carried out and permitted, imitations, daily production and life); and among elderly people with respect to health and death (good but vulnerable health, ageing as an illness, natural of a person near death). From that starting point, definitions are drawn as to who are elderly people (perceptions) and what means to be one (self-perceptions) in Santa Cruz de Andamarca.