For a little over two decades, Dan Buettner has been making known some places where people lived longer, many of them enjoying enviable health, doing physical activities and/or with a mind with little or almost no cognitive deterioration for their long age. These places were called The Blue Zones. There are only 5 in the world. These places are: the Island of Sardinia in Italy, the Island of Okinawa in Japan, an Adventist Community in Loma Linda California, United States, the Island of Ikaria in Greece and the Nicoya Peninsula in the Province of Guanacaste in Costa Rica.

As background information on the Blue Zone in Costa Rica, there is evidence of writings made in 1904, that is, 117 years ago, this was in a French magazine called Pandemonium. This article was written by a Swiss who came to Costa Rica, who some called “the wise Pittier” named Henri Pittier, he traveled around Costa Rica doing research in various fields, he carried out studies on Botany, Meteorology, Geography and others. In this publication you can read the following lines:

“To what special circumstances does the Barrio de Santa Ana, located in the hills north of the Nicoya Valley, owe the privilege of long life that its inhabitants boast?

No one has said yet. Is it due to the special composition of its waters, the softness of its air, the sober and orderly life of those (…)?

I don’t know, but the truth is that in all my pilgrimages through these lands of America I have not found another corner whose inhabitants are blessed with such an abundance of years.”

Published in Pandemonium Magazine. Year III, pp 5-8; N°46 pp.3-7 Year 1904

Taken from the Conference “Statistical Evidence of Longevity in Nicoya”, Dr. Luis Rosero Bixby, World Meeting of Blue Zones, Nicoya 2017.

This region of Costa Rica is located in the north of our country, in the Province of Guanacaste, specifically in the Nicoya Peninsula, the area known as the Blue Zone is made up of the cantons of Nicoya, Carrillo, Santa Cruz, Nandayure and Hojancha.

Another very important antecedent, with scientific evidence, are several studies carried out in the last four decades by Dr. Luis Rosero Bixby, these investigations showed a region in Costa Rica where mortality was exceptionally lower than the rest of the country, that region is the 5 cantons mentioned above, today called the Blue Zone.

But what is the reason for this exceptional longevity? We may never know, say some researchers in the scientific community. It is believed that it is a combination of several factors. In a cleaner environment, such as the environment that surrounded them in their lives, even in the Blue Zone region of the Nicoya Peninsula, a little of that cleaner or healthier environment is preserved. To this must be added the Genetic factor. In the population of the Blue Zone of Costa Rica there is a strong genetic factor of Amerindian origin.

We must learn from the lifestyle of the long-lived Centenarians (as), all these people were very hard-working, the existing conditions forced a lifestyle where one had to always move, they were very physical activities such as washing clothes in the river, cooking, taking care of the animals in the back fence, bringing water from springs or the nearest river, flying a machete, milking sometimes up to 10 cows, using other tools such as the axe, the club, the shovel, preparing the land for sowing, cultivating, harvesting, riding horses, etc. And these activities were carried out by both men and some women. Estanislao Suarez, 103 years old (qdDg) said: “We ate what the land produced, without chemicals of any kind”, their diet was very natural or organic, based mainly on products such as rice, beans, lots of corn in different preparations, from tortillas, donuts, tanelas, atoles, tamales of various types, and many other delicious products of white, yellow, pujagua or Congo corn; To all these previous products we must add products such as pipián, chicasquil or quelite, squash, yuca, yam, tiquisque, dairy products where curd, cheese, cream and milk predominate; many varieties of fruits, from home gardens and from the forest or mountain; Home-made eggs, and chicken or hen meat raised in their yards, as well as a considerable amount of pork, pigs raised with corn and other tubers, they used everything from the pig, its fat was used for cooking until not long ago, there was also an abundance of deer, peccary, pacas, turkeys, and other wild animals, from the forests they brought beehives, their honey was consumed and the wax was used to make locks wrapped in a stick and thus they were illuminated; with all this variety of foods they prepared stews, soups and other delicious traditional dishes of the region. Very spiritual people, with a lot of faith, who always gave and give thanks to God for everything, where the well-being of the family has always been a priority, generous people, who loved their neighbor, people who shared, friendly and sincere, the word was a contract that was respected, people who worked in community, sowed their lands together, helped create roads, aqueducts, schools and so on in their small communities, many of those towns today very populated districts or communities.

They were also happy people, they knew how to have fun, a strange marimba was enough to put together a dance, sometimes to the sound of the dance they refreshed themselves with coyol or “other spirits” prepared in an artisanal way.

Ana Reyneri Fonseca, 107 years old (qdDg) said: “Education was natural, it was given at home” and was complemented at school. To go to the educational center, many of the centenarians in their childhood traveled long distances, some on foot and others on horseback, most were able to complete up to third grade, since it was the highest grade offered in the schools of those small towns. To complete up to sixth grade, one had to go to urban centers such as Nicoya, Santa Cruz or Filadelfia.

All these Centenarians have shown that their lifestyle worked and still works. The proof of this is that the youngest is 100 years old, some of these Centenarians without any type of illness, today there are 53 Centenarians in the Blue Zone, many are still active, happy, with a clear mind, with a desire to live, to get up tomorrow; When asked what they miss the most, or what they would like to do if they could do it, their answer is to work, they miss it, some Centenarians like Doña Carmen Moreno, 100 years old there in Tempate, she continues cooking on her 3-burner stove, she does it like any housewife, or Doña Dora Amparo Bustos, 103 years old in San Blas de Sardinal, who continues grinding on the stone and making donuts with her daughter Zaida, or Don Saúl Guzmán there in Hojancha who every afternoon takes two hours to play his mandolin, going over his extensive repertoire of about 160 songs, or walking in Oriente de Santa Bárbara de Santa Cruz and running into Don José Ramiro Guadamuz, 100 years old on his horse when he goes to take the cows to the pasture, or visiting Don José Bonifacio Villegas affectionately known as Pachito in the town of Pochote de Quebrada Honda Nicoya, who from time to time still visits his family. 104 years old, riding his horse, they are just a sample of other long-lived people over 100 years old who continue to be active in their lives, and like them there were many with great strength and activity in the very near past with whom I had the privilege of sharing and seeing them do amazing things, receiving all their love, listening to their life stories full of adventures, receiving their blessings and laughing.

They are an example, a living treasure, people with great knowledge and wisdom, I have heard Dr. José Retana say on several occasions that they are “successful people”.

We must learn from them and adapt that knowledge to the lifestyle that modernity gives us today, we must try to reverse or improve some things, today there is a lot of sedentary lifestyle, little physical activity, we must also work hard with the new generations to try to have a better quality of life, today we have a lot of obesity and chronic diseases in young people, it is important to spread these life stories of our exceptional long-lived Centenarians.

We must also ensure that each of these people has a good quality of life and a dignified life.

Escrito por Jorge Vindas, octubre 2021.

José Pio Gutiérrez García 100 years old, born on July 11, 1924 . Lives in the Canton of Nicoya

María Felicitas Zúñiga Jaén, 100 years old, was born on June 9, 1924. Lives in the Canton of Nicoya

This is Josefina Aurelia Gómez Gutiérrez, 99 years 10 months, born November 2, 1924, lives in the Canton of Carrillo.

José Humberto Carrillo Carrillo, 103 years old, was born on June 20, 1921. He lives in the Canton of Nicoya.

Petronila López Castrillo, 101 years old, was born on January 20, 1923.  She lives in the Canton of Hojancha.

María Criselda Irene Moraga Bustos 100 years old, born on January 28, 1924. Lives in the Canton of Santa Cruz

Meet Dora Amparo Bustos Duarte, 105 years old, born March 6, 1919. Family of long-lived people, her brother Filimón lived 100 years and 5 months, he has 2 living sisters Encarnación, 96, and Ninfa, 93, her brothers died at over 88 years old, Dimas died at 97, Carmen at 88. Dora lives in the Canton of Carrillo.

This is also 100-year-old Celedonio Félix Méndez Duarte, the one with his wife in one of the photos.

María Jesús Auristela Viales Moreno, 99 years and 10 months old, born on November 6, 1924.  She lives in the Canton of Santa Cruz.

José Laudencio Lauterio Contreras Contreras 100 years old, was born on February 19, 1924. He lives in the Canton of Santa Cruz.

José Lázaro Ójenes Ramírez Padilla, 100 years old, born March 19, 1924. Lives in the Canton of Santa Cruz

This is  María Ambrosía Ruiz Gutiérrez, 101 years old, born December 7, 1922. Lives in Santa Cruz.

José Flores Flores, 117 years old

Marta Rojas Arrieta, 109 years old, born July 30, 1913. She lives in downtown Santa Cruz.

Benerando López García, 101 years old

Justo Pastor Castillo Vargas, 100 years old, born October 18, 1924, lives in the Canton of Nicoya.

Aurora Mamerta Ortiz Obando, 102 years old, born on November 1, 1921.  She lives in the Cabo Velas district, Santa Cruz Canton.

José Cornelio Francisco López Fajardo, 100 years old, was born on September 17, 1924.  He was born in the Community of Nosara, today he lives in the Canton of Nicoya.

Marta Rojas Arrieta, 109 years old, born July 30, 1913. She lives in downtown Santa Cruz

María Isabel Bonilla Carmona, 100 years old, born November 9, 1923. In the photo with 4 of her 10 children, from left to right: Daniel, Yadira, Doña María Isabel, Álvaro and Mayit Picon Bonilla