[BBC] Some of the world’s longest-living people aren’t doing anything special to live to 100 — but that may be exactly what’s keeping them alive.José Bonafacio Villegas has ridden a horse nearly every day for the last 100 years. Villegas learned how to ride in 1921, and spent the next 99 years riding to school, doing farm work or visiting friends on horseback. At 102, riding is still his passion, although he’s currently sidelined — an ear infection hurt his balance and has kept him off the saddle since December.
It’s a temporary setback, says Villegas. He hopes he’ll be back on his horse soon. "Hope keeps you going. Negative thoughts annihilate."
Villegas, who’s turning 103 on 15 May, is one of 44 centenarians that live on the Nicoya peninsula in north-western Costa Rica, an area dotted with wildlife refuges surrounded by some of Costa Rica’s most pristine and isolated beaches. While tourists, surfers and celebrities like Tom Brady and Gisele Bundchen frequent the coast, the interior is cowboy country. Motorcycles are the easiest way to get around on the rocky dirt roads, and, if you don’t have an all-wheel-drive car, horses are a close second.