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Want to Live to 100? Ask Costa Ricans for Advice | Spanish Listening Practice
In this episode of Let's Talk Spanish, Shandon explores the unique lifestyle of the Nicoya Peninsula in Costa Rica, one of the world's five blue zones where people frequently live to over 10...
Want to Live to 100? Ask Costa Ricans for Advice | Spanish Listening Practice
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Interactive Transcript
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Hello and welcome to Let's Talk Spanish, where I speak clear, slow Spanish about the best
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things to do, see and eat in Spanish-speaking countries, so you can improve your Spanish
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listening.
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I'm Shandon, an English native who became fluent after 15 years of learning Spanish
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and living in five Spanish-speaking countries.
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With over 240,000 downloads, this podcast has already helped thousands speak better Spanish.
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Today I'm going to tell you about a special zoning Costa Rica where it's more common
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than usual for people to live to over 100, explaining some of the reasons why, and there's
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lots we can definitely learn from them.
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As always, use the transcript in Spanish and English to help with your understanding,
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which you'll find in the episode description.
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Ok, vamos.
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Let's talk Spanish.
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To improve your Spanish, with the episode 104 of this podcast.
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Today I'm going to continue talking about Costa Rica, but this time, on a very specific aspect
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of the country.
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I'm going to talk about a lot of the Costa Rica that interests me.
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In fact, one of the first episodes of this episode, episode number eight, was about
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this area.
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That episode is not available, but don't worry, because you're going to learn everything
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you need to know about this episode.
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The area I'm going to talk to you is called Nikoja.
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It's located in the northwest of Costa Rica, and it's a peninsula.
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Why do I want to talk about this area?
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Well, the area is one of the five blue areas of the world.
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It's the only blue area located in a Spanish-speaking country.
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The other areas are located in Okinawa, in Japan, in Serdenia, in Italy, and in Korea,
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in Greece, and in Loma Linda, in the United States.
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What are blue areas and why are they important?
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Well, now I'll explain.
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In these areas, people live up to 90 and 100 years with much more frequency than
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people in other parts of the world.
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In addition, people in these areas suffer less diseases than usual.
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I'm sure you're interested in why people in these areas live much more than
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the average, and why their life expectancy is much higher.
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There are a mix of different reasons, and you'll be surprised by many of them, especially
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by the simple ones that are.
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Here in the United Kingdom we could learn a lot of the lifestyle of people in this area.
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Each area is a little different, but I'll specifically talk about why people in
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Nikoia live longer and longer lives.
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First, we have to talk about food.
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It seems that the diet of Nikoia, a very important role in her longevity, is not because
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many super-alimental food are eaten, nor because they consume proteins.
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The truth is that her diet is very simple.
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First, consume many natural foods and only consume processed food.
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Some of the most common foods in her diet are corn tortillas, black beans,
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rice, bananas and eggs.
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In addition, they do not consume much red meat.
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In reality, they do not consume much meat for the general, and most of their diet
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is composed of plants and vegetables.
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Finally, they do not eat too many large portions, especially in comparison with those
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we eat here in England or the United States.
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What can we learn from her diet?
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That in a minute the best is the most simple.
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We only need to consume more natural food and less processed food.
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Forget about the last fashion in diets and hacks.
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They do not work.
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The second reason is that they do not go to gym.
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What?
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But the exercise is super important, is not true?
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Yes, of course it is important, but instead of going to gym, the people of Nikoya
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keep active in a more natural way.
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Every day, every two days they are moving, walk all sides and work in the garden,
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for example.
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In this way they keep themselves in shape without stressing too much their bodies.
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So there is a difference between us here in England, which we go to gym and we
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focus on raising heavy, heavy, or running a lot in a walk, they give importance
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to the natural movement.
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The third reason why Nikoya lives more years is that they have more strong personal relationships.
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In Nikoya, there is still a great sense of community and family and community
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they value a lot.
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It is more normally the majority live with the rest of their family or if not, they live
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very close to their family.
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Almost no one lives alone, which means that there is very little solidarity.
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This contrasts a lot with the situation in the United Kingdom, especially in cities
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like London, where I live.
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Day after day, the community is every time less important in London.
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Almost no one speaks with their neighbors, for example.
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It is more, many major lives alone and their families do not visit them, so they suffer
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of solidarity.
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I am sure that we can learn a lot of Nikoya about the importance of the family, the
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personal relationships and take care of the biggest of our society.
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There are other reasons why Nikoya lives many years, but I think these
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are the three most important.
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Thank you very much for listening to this episode.
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I hope you liked it and that it helped you improve your understanding of Spanish.
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In the next episode I will talk about another Spanish-speaking country that is located
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in the Caribbean sea and it is quite unique.
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Thank you very much again and see you soon.
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Ciao.
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Thanks for listening to this episode of Let's Talk Spanish.
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Ready to finally speak Spanish with confidence?
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Then sign up to learn more about my speak Spanish with confidence program.
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Personalised to your goals and needs, the program includes one-to-one conversational Spanish
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lessons plus much more.
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Guiding you step-by-step to become a confident Spanish speaker, without having to suffer
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through boring grammar lessons.
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Find out how I can help you become a confident speaker by booking your free meeting using
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the link in the episode description.
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Thanks again and nos vemos pronto.
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Ciao.