Hilary Brueck
- "Blue Zones" are 5 places in the world where it's ostensibly easy to live to 100.
- There's only one Blue Zone in the US, just outside LA.
- We visited a woman there turning 100, and were amazed at her ability to take it easy.
You would not believe Ester van den Hoven is turning 100 today.
The first time I met her, in June, the sprightly 99-year-old was dashing out for a 10-minute walk in the California sunshine.
Is that Ester? I wondered, doing a double-take as I rolled towards the parking lot of her nursing home. Can't be, I thought. This woman is elderly, sure, but there's no way she's about to turn 100. A short figure wearing sky blue shorts, a matching shirt, oversized movie star sunglasses, and a beaming smile. She looks several decades younger than her years.