The corner of Costa Rica where people live on, and on

Clementina Espinoza (left), 92, kisses her husband Agustin Espinoza, 100, in Nicoya, Costa Rica.The couple lives in one of the five Blue Zones of the world, where longevity is a characteristic in a higher than usual number of people. Photos: EZEQUIEL BECERRA/AFP

Aged 94, Saturnino "Sato" Lopez rises early each day, chops wood and takes long walks in a part of Costa Rica that's a global oddity: like him, people there tend to live a very long time.

Home for Sato is the Nicoya Peninsula, where 1,010 people aged 90 or older live in a so-called "Blue Zone" – five areas around the world where life expectancy is particularly high.