Last week, I drove to the province of Braganca in the east of Portugal, close to the Spanish border. It was a crazy couple of days. I was meeting the eco-architect who is working with me on my project, the Earth Collective. We were staying in a house I had rented, half an hour from the property I was viewing for the second time the following day. (I wrote about the first visit in a previous blog.)

Ten minutes before I was due to leave, an email arrived informing me that the bathroom of the rental property was out of order and would I mind going to another property. I was not keen, as the replacement was further away. When I informed the owner where I was going the next day, she miraculously announced she had a third property 5 minutes from the viewing. Marvellous! I could show Odete the land in the evening, before meeting the two agents and the owner the following morning. I thought it odd I hadn’t seen the rental property online, though.

I arrived an hour before Odete, to find that the place was filthy. Thick dust lay on all the surfaces, the floor was grubby, the bedroom doors were swollen and didn’t close, floor boards bulged in one room and, worst of all, there was absolutely no water. I tried to contact the owner, to no avail. Eventually she responded explaining that the hot water took a while to heat up but assured me the water was always on. She also informed me that because the place wasn’t fully occupied at this time of the year, it was cleaned two weeks ago (no way!). She simply wouldn’t hear that there was zero water, or send anyone to fix it, or to clean the place. But I could move to the other property she had offered me, if I wanted to. I was furious and it was too late for that, in any event.

We searched outside for the water mains, and eventually found it. It was turned off. When we opened it, a small amount of water trickled out of the kitchen tap, but there was no water in the bathrooms and the toilets didn’t flush. We filled all the saucepans we could find, and went off to view the property down the road. When we returned a couple of hours later, a pond had appeared at the rear of the building (which resembled a building site - not shown in the pictures, obviously, which I received whilst travelling there). Pipes were sticking out of the ground and one protruded from the wall of the house which was gushing water, the source of the flood and the reason why there was no water inside. We turned off the mains and heated the pans on the stove to cook and wash ourselves later. I struggled to sleep and woke feeling exhausted. On the flip side, however, I got to spend the evening with Odete, who I discovered, is a kindred spirit.

The next morning we met the owner and agents at the property for the official second viewing. It was revealing. I had insisted on meeting the owner (who was there reluctantly as he lived several hours away) to gain clarification on a number of points, as his agent had provided misleading information prior to the first viewing and proved unreliable ever since. Unfortunately, what I learned from the owner went against the beautiful land being the chosen location for my project. There were several stumbling blocks, but the biggest was that the land was in a conservation zone (a question I had asked at the outset), which meant the amount of square metres I could build for my project was extremely low. It made the project uneconomic and the idea of purchasing 110 acres ridiculous. When I learned this after the first viewing, I decided not to proceed. Several days later, my agent received a communication from her ‘slippery’ counterpart informing us that the owner had been shocked to learn of this limitation and, as a result, he had spoken to the President of the municipality (whom he knew personally). The President said he could take the land out of the conservation zone (or so we were told). He would like to meet Odete and I in person. So, a meeting had been arranged for that afternoon, in the main town of the region, to present and discuss my project. That was the basis on which I had agreed to re-consider the property.

After the viewing, Odete and I stayed on to have a picnic, while the two agents headed off to the town to have lunch. I felt sorry for Maria (my agent), having to endure the company of the slippery one, and had asked her to make it clear that he was not invited to the meeting. Odete and I set off to the town. A few miles down the road, I realised I had left my pillow at the accommodation. We had 25 minutes to get to the meeting, so I flashed Odete to stop, turned around and did a rally driver impression back to the rental. By the time I returned, we were down to 15 minutes. We drove as fast as the windy road would let us, by some miracle found parking places in the town, and arrived at the municipality building with one minute to spare - only to discover we were an hour early! At least I had time to go over the presentation that had taken me three days to write, and find photographic examples of the type of building and infrastructure I had in mind.

Maria was attending the meeting with us. My heart sank when she arrived with the slippery one in tow. Despite her best efforts, he was still attached like a limpet. The President met us in reception, along with a team of people we had not expected, shook our hands and gestured us to follow him to the meeting room. The slippery one slithered into the crowd. Time to act. I turned to him and told him to leave, a little embarrassing in front of the others but I was the purchaser, after all, and I was exercising my rights. Amusingly, he messaged Maria during the meeting to express his displeasure and announce that the would be no price reduction.

Everyone in the room spoke some English, or understood enough for me to proceed. I spoke slowly and clearly, and Odete interjected with occasional embellishments in Portuguese. There were approving nods and smiles throughout the presentation. Having made the economic and ecological case, I handed over to Odete to discuss what could be done, in Portuguese, which was easier for everyone. She could brief me later.

Once again, we had been misinformed by the slippery one. The President did not have the power to take the land out of the conservation zone. The only thing we could do, was to make a detailed presentation (consuming more time and money) to the conservation body. If they approved the project on special merits (significance to the region), then the municipality would follow suit. But the chances were slim. After de-briefing with Maria and Odete in a nearby cafe, I drove back, exhausted. I am not a fan of night driving but I arrived safely after punctuating the journey with several power naps.

I mulled the proposition over for a day or so and, once again, decided not to proceed. The risk factors outweighed the positives. The experience wasn’t a waste of time. Far from it. I learned a lot and it was useful to go through the process of presenting to the municipality. I like the area and will probably go back in the next couple of weeks with a Portuguese speaking friend, after researching locations that are not in any conservation zone, and drop into a few cafes to ask locals if they know of land for sale. I did a similar exercise in Ireland last year, where I was looking there. I cycled the countryside, dropping flyers into letter boxes and accosting unsuspecting locals, as they went about their business, a strategy which yielded the best prospects.

This was the second property I had been seriously interested in. The previous one was also misrepresented and turned out to be in a conservation zone. It seems to be common practise unfortunately. However, knowing what I know now and with Odete’s guidance, I feel confident the next effort will be a success. I could say ‘third time lucky’ but I don’t believe in luck. I am the creator of my reality and synchronicity will guide me.

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