living with ivo

this is the view from my new home.

i have been busy with another transition. i have moved most of my things out of my house and have been living with my friend ivo, from portugal. he~s the one i talked about in a recent post, who, at 32, is retired.

he is an amazing person to know. at 15, he bought a bar in portugal under his mom~s name. he looked 18, so people trusted that he was. he forged her name and worked three jobs to pay the monthly payments, sold the bar five years later and is still living off that sum. he gives his mom money monthly, which seems fair since she had to find out a year after he owned the bar, that money was coming into the account she set up for him. anyway, he proved to be even more ambitious, buying his first house at 20, working for richard branson until he was chief financial advisor. he went on to buy a flat in london and eventually sold it. he is now living here in praia do rosa and turns down every offer to rent his house to tourists, saving his identity and way of life. he gave up the high paying and high profile job to live in paradise. he now trains for marathons, plays cards, toys with his car and goes out.

since i was robbed, i don~t feel safe at home or away from home. my landlord told me he understood if i wanted to move out. ivo offered a room in his home for free, for as long as i want to stay. i can~t morally live for free, so i have been cleaning, which i would do anyway, and keeping him company, which is all he asked of me. his house is quite a bit further from the internet, but it~s large, there are no dogs, and i wake up to million dollar views of the entire beach and mountain every morning. tb is very happy here and it~s safer living with a man.

my laptop has not been recovered even though i spread the word that i want to buy it back. unfortunately, i heard a horrible rumor about "patron", my friend who protects me. he has a cocaine habit and has been known to steal things. it~s very possible that this person i thought was my friend actually broke into my home and robbed me.

i don~t know the future of my living situation. i suppose i can stay iwth ivo until he gets sick of me or something better comes along, which i can~t imagine. hey, i live in a beautiful house with diamond views for free in brazil. i~m enjoying a nice fire he just made and later, we are going out to meet friends. my life has never been this good.

i haven~t started teaching english but i will soon. once i begin, i will save money for travel. ivo and i have tossed around the idea of taking his car and driving all over south america with tb. when we see someplace we want to stop, we stop and stay for as long as we want. i would like to live with him for a bit longer to test our compatibility before committing to a long journey. the good thing about ivo is that he doesn~t need money, so he won~t rob me. he has already shown infinite generosity in letting me live with him for free. i trust him completely. we would probably leave around august. if and when i return to the states, i can leave tb with ivo and come back whenever. i am truly blessed to have this opportunity to grow, learn, live stress free in a healthy environment.