Finding the world's happiest person -

Finding the world’s happiest person

National Geographic once called me the world’s happiest person.

Well, not me, per se, but somebody else named Alejandro Zúñiga who also lives in Costa Rica.

In the November 2017 issue of National Geographic, the magazine’s cover story began with the following paragraph:

“Who is the world’s happiest person?

It may be Alejandro Zúñiga, a healthy, middle-aged father who socializes at least six hours a day and has a few good friends he can count on. He sleeps at least seven hours most nights, walks to work, and eats six servings of fruits and vegetables most days. He works no more than 40 hours a week at a job he loves with co-workers he enjoys. He spends a few hours every week volunteering; on the weekends he worships God and indulges his passion for soccer. In short he makes daily choices that favor happiness, choices made easier because he lives among like-minded people in the verdant, temperate Central Valley of Costa Rica.”

I’m not a father, and I probably eat six servings of fruits and vegetables total each month (sorry, mom), but it’s been my goal to meet Alejandro Zúñiga for the last two years.

In the final week of 2019, I set off to find the other Alejandro Zúñiga. Here’s how it went: