Quinta Marugo with Ugo Uberti Foppa

So the project that we presented was certain amount, the money that we invest as being more than double. Welcome to the Irresistible Factor, a podcast about building impactful brands and organizations in the food and fitness and health and wellness space. Whether you're a founder, investor, or healthcare professional, we cover brand strategy, funding, distribution, and patient acquisition. This is a community for those who want to make a real impact in health and wellness. I'm Kristi Bridges, a marketing expert passionate about helping brands connect with the people who need them most. Let's explore how strategy, storytelling, and partnerships drive real change. Welcome to today's episode of the Irresistible Factor. I'm so excited today because I have a special guest who is coming into us all the way from Portugal. His name is Hugo or Betty Fopa. And I'd like to welcome him to the Irresistible Factor. Thank you so much for joining us today. Thanks to you, to having me over your podcast. I'm super excited. I am too. So I want to hear everything, but why don't we start by you telling us a little bit of your background. Talk about the business that you have now. And I want to get to how you got there because I already know you had a really interesting journey. Yeah, quite a bit. So I'm Italian. I left Italy when I was 33, 34 years old. I'm 54 years old. OK. Almost 50 years that I'm away. And I'm now in Portugal exactly from 2019, the beginning. So seven years. And I moved to Portugal to do the project that we're going to talk about. My background is mostly in a sailor and a internship. I always love to be my own boss, as we can say. So I always like to do something that allow me to be responsible of each action that I will have taken. And of course, of the good results and also the bad results. And I moved from Italy for a job and I moved to Switzerland for a couple of years. And then it was a completely different business because it was in oil and gas. Oh, wow. I think for an engineer company that were producing a compression natural gas station. So gas, natural gas, meat and for automotive. And after two years, we sold the company to this client. It was based in Hong Kong and he said, I'm going to buy it. If you and the engineers come down to start it out. No, no, that's what brought you. And I said, OK, let's do it. I mean, I'm losing my job if I'm not going. I'm still recently young. So I have the possibility to check a completely different part of the world, different culture, different reality. And I accepted it and thanks God I've done it because it has been an amazing experience. It lasted 10 years. Even if in the company we're calling one year, the first year, then the energy of Hong Kong was like for someone that was coming from Italy, we're doing your own business. It was very difficult because you were like a daughter. If you didn't have this kind of relationship through family and everything, it was always so complicated. And I landed it in a country where everyone was like pushing you to do something on your own. They were only excited for you to do something. And so once I finished my contract with this company, I opened the company in food and beverage. I opened an online shop. It's called Monissimo. And when I was importing and buying from the local imported Italian local imported, fine food and wine to sell to private people because there was an amazing network in the trade business, like restaurants and hotels. But there was not that great produce available for retail. So for like private people. And so I created this business. It's still running. Of course, it's a small business. Nothing crazy because it's very, very niche. Here, they're fine. But it has been an amazing journey. And I've been there with my actual business partner. At the time she was also my life partner. And after like seven years that we were there, we said, OK, we're not going to retire here. Because in Hong Kong, you work. You don't retire. It's a big city. So it's not worth to be there and do nothing. You get crazy. And it costs the fortune. And so we decided, OK, what we can do. She's a coach. And so she likes to help people. And I was in food and beverage. So we said, how can we find-- she told me what you want to do when you retire. And I said, I want to have my little piece of the land, grow my veggies, my food, and be happy there. And she replied, I was like, oh, I don't want to be the wife of a farmer. And I said, OK, I don't want to be a farmer. But the idea is that. And then through a friend, she told us my way to do like the sort of a retreat center, where she can take care of the soul and the mind of the people and who can take care of the operation and the battery of the people. And so we started a one retreat in Hong Kong. It went very well. So we worked very well together. So we said, OK, without any rush, let's start looking for a place where we can do this. Of course, the idea was immediately to go back to Europe because I have my family there. A family was here. It's still here. And so we said, OK, let's see what we find. My idea was to do it in Italy, in Sardinia. That is my favorite place in Italy. But as soon as we landed in Italy, we found the same reality that I left. It's just hard. Why is it so hard there? Why? From my experience and my point of view, of course, I'm nobody. I can't say this is the rule. But you know, what I loved of Hong Kong is that the rule is this. You follow the rule. You're going to get the result you want. In Italy, the rule is like right left up down. Yeah, it's white, but they're great. Now this is black. So you can't really ever understand that you're doing the right thing. And you know, you're talking about investing quite a lot of money. So you don't want to take any risk and then find out two years later that everything is not correctly done. They stop you, they close your place and say, OK, now we can't do it in Italy. Then we look at it in Spain. But we didn't see anything that was appealing. South of France was too expensive. And we finished in Portugal for another investment. And I've never been in Portugal in my life before. Oh, wow. For the first time, I've been in Portugal. And it's funny because I'm from Italy and I travel all around the world and I've never been in Portugal. And that's funny. Our life turns around. And I landed in Portugal. And the first idea was to find a place close to the ocean, to be like two, three actors max. And we'll see through the agent the images of this place when I'm sitting right now, when I'm living right now. That is the farthest place you can ever from the ocean in Portugal. Oh, really? Wow. Yeah, we are in London like 30 minutes from Spain. OK. You can understand like on the border. And the distance that we have from south of the sea and from west of the sea is the same. So you can't be farther from the ocean than where we are. And it's 33 actors. So it's a massive property compared to what we wanted. Yeah. I mean, it's huge from our perspective. In reality, we are the smallest property around here. Wow. So that represents it. It's crazy. And so we came to see the place. We were still living in Hong Kong. When we came to see the place. And honestly, we felt in love from the gate. Really? We are in Alentezio. Alentezio is very hilly, like Torscony style, just to give you an idea. Yeah. Much more quiet than Torscony. And we arrive on the gate. And our property, the gate is the highest point of the property. So from the gate, you can see all around you. And we felt in love. We voted in the gate, if you words. Wow. And that's incredible. Never be so happy in my life, honest. This means-- Wow. Yeah. That's incredible. So tell me about start. So you did something in Hong Kong that was like this, right? You knew what sort of knew what you were getting into, because you started some kind of retreat. Was it similar? So doing a retreat is one thing. Owning a retreat center, it's a completely different thing. I need to be honest. I mean, a second point that is very important, we didn't realize exactly how big of a project this was. Yeah. Does anybody else-- I don't know. But I changed many houses during my life, because traveling, of course, you get a house, you renovate the house, and you're happy about that. And then we said, my partner did the same, we slept in Japan and the American in Italy, in many countries. And we said, OK, I mean, we do it. What's the matter? But it was huge. Yeah. Because we have a 10 double. bedrooms on in suite with a common area. We made a big natural pool and then we built a pagoda that is like a challa where you do activities and it has been a, I would say a nice three years of stress. Yeah. Joy and stress together because it was not all stress but it has been hard. I mean, I have to say that I was not expecting it to be so complicated. I was going to say my experience with entrepreneurs, everyone I talk to, there's a certain level of naivete, I think, like you don't really know what you're getting into and if you did, you would probably say no. So I think you have to have that little bit of, I don't really know what this is going to be like, but I'm going to go for it because if you knew all the problems you were going to have, would you have done it? Maybe not. Probably not. Yeah. Probably not because you like, this was like the idea of okay, we settle down and we do this one year, we fix it and then we start working and everything would be super fine. Of course, we got here and once we started presenting, we decided to do with the European Funds so we presented the project because it was quite a good investment for the area where we are, where there is not that much for tourism. So we created this project and once we started okay, everything had been approved and we were super excited, COVID landed. And so we got like a, oh, now what we're doing. Wow. From a certain point of view, we've been lucky because if COVID will have arrived one year and half later, probably will be the end of it because you missed everything that you put in and then for a one year and half you can't work so you can't get any income and you have to pay all the dams that you made. And so it was a, yes, it struggled because everything went up like double triple the price. And so building material, everything went up. So the project that we presented was a certain amount, the money that we invest has been more than double. So luckily we ended up with money but it has been financially the beginning quite harsh and autonomous. But we made it. So that's incredible. How do you, how do you find people to come like what's your, how did you get the word out about a brand new place in a very remote part of Portugal? Where are the people coming from? Are they local like Europeans or are they coming from the US? Let's say we do 85% with foreigners on which probably 60, 70% is a European. And the rest is can be Canada, can be USA some from Asia. But mostly is a foreigner, say the European. Yes. When you say, you would mean non Portuguese, right? Not Portuguese, not Portuguese. Yeah. Okay. Yeah. We are starting to have in the last couple of years a bit of traction in Portugal too. But usually it's more for the shorter retreat. Yeah. So like three nights that is the minimum that we ask. And when usually they come from a broader the minimum is like five nights because you have the trip. So you don't want to do a retreat when on five days or four days or two days are a trip to come here and trip to go home. And so it's like a really not even enjoyable at one point. Basically that's how we say our target. And going back to how did we promote with a lot of crying because the first seven months that we opened we didn't have anybody coming in. We try everything we could. We usually walk like 10 months as a retreat center in a couple of months at Bergenberg fast because we like Portuguese people to come over because the Portuguese people love the orientation. They like really this area and they like it in summertime. But it's incredibly hot. And usually foreigners don't like it because it's hot. Yeah. And so we we started and we are receiving I remember clearly we were receiving a booking through booking the comma. And every time they were canceling like two three days before. Then of course we learned that that's normal because people usually when you have a cancellation policy where you can cancel up to two three days before people book two three different places and then one day's settle. They're three per that's candle and everything they decided for the place. But at that time we had no experience. So it was like okay the energy is wrong. Something is wrong. What we're doing. Why is happening. And luckily for us we had a couple of retreat leaders that they came to see the place. They love the place. They love us. And so they they decided to do a couple of retreats here. And from that point on slowly but not too slowly the word of mouth came out. Then we start publishing a bit like you know reviews and testimonials from this retreat leader on our social. And slowly we start growing. We start receiving people. And of course the more you receive people and you do a good job of course. The more the word of mouth automatically goes up and people start calling. Of course now we work with the company that is managing our social. So growing you have more possibilities financially. And that's it. The first year has been very slow. Second year, much better. The third year definitely much better. And now we are in the fourth year that we are open. And we do it well. I'm not complaining. I don't want to have too much. That's so fun. So you're not working to open multiple resorts and that's not. No way. No way. No way. One is enough. No, but because the idea of the project is that to have a place that we can call home. And that give us the possibility of working doing what we want. The possibility of choosing how much we work. So I'm personally never been driven by money. Okay. I never wanted to do as much money as I could. Every time I reach a point in which I was comfortable and happy. I said okay now I also enjoy my life and the possibility that I have. I have no like crazy passion for cars or these kind of things. I'm a very humble and open and fine. The opposite of a city person. So I like simple people. I like simple things. I'm much more happy to go in it in a friend house where there is nothing fancy than going out to a restaurant that is three slugs and say, "My God, the dinner of my life. I've done it in Hong Kong several times because I was part of my business. So I've been lucky enough to enjoy also that kind of experience, but it's not what drives me to say, "Okay, I have to do this. I have to do that." That's why there is no way that I'm thinking of, "Okay, once this goes by self, I will do another one now. This goes by self, I will dedicate to the garden my time. Only the garden's my head. That's the goal." I'm curious about wellness. Whether you were doing it intentionally, you're not. You're in the wellness travel industry, right? That's what you're doing. You're having people come. I think it's a part of what we wanted to do. Yes, because once you want to create a space that allows people to work on themselves, that's what I mean. It's not a spa, not going to be longer, but I think it's even more important than a spa. Yeah. Well, that's what I'm curious about when you were thinking about what you were going to do, wellness has changed. Obviously, it's really way more important to people. They're talking about it more. They feel like they have more control over it than they used to. And I think, and maybe it's just my age. But I think people are more tapped into it than they were. I think as a whole society is starting to realize how important it is, as we talk, I mean, there's obviously longevity talk everywhere, but the idea that you are able to live a happier, better life by just focusing a little bit on yourself. I think is relatively new. Right? Travel wasn't about relaxing. I mean, it was about relaxing, but not in the way that you're doing it now. It was about going to fantasies and having experiences, but this is different. This is opposite in a way. You're going in, you're kind of stepping back into, right? It's not about tourism. And, right, so talk a little bit about what made you choose this, did you good done anything? It sounds like at the time. Yeah, but I have to say one thing, you know, at least when I was younger, the wellness meant going in a place where you lie down, you have people massaging you. You can take the sun on the pool, you have a cocktail. So that you have a spartanitment. That was wellness the way, at least I knew at the time. Right now, wellness is, in my opinion, of course, there is always that part. I'm not saying that it's not that part, but the way we imagine it, and the way I think the mark now is going to in the direction wellness, it's working on yourself. And to do that, seriously, you need to be completely out of your comfort zone so you're not going in a place where you are super served, you have like 20 people serving you, you do nothing, they do everything for you. We thought that there will not be what we would like, and then we create this space based on our sort of needs. Like we put ourselves in the position, okay, we are the guest. What we're looking for, what will make me feel super comfortable in working on myself, and based on that, we design this space where you have a very cozy and comfortable common area, the rooms are spacious because there's more than one is 24 meters, and they're very basic. It's all natural, so we have only food class, there's almost zero plastic around our space, for sure not in the furniture that we use. There are all the same, more or less the basic furniture are the same, so the beds, the wardrobe, the bathroom, they're all the same. It changes a bit the size, the bigger rooms, they have maybe two sofa chairs with a coffee table, all done in a leather or food. We use a lot of the, we have to cut trees, a couple of three for trees to build the pool, so we decided to reuse completely all these trees to create some particular furniture, like the bed table lamps that are tree that we cut here, all the wall lamps are branches of the trees that we cut here, so it has been designed to really feel comfortable, but not pompous, not like a super, hopefully define it, you know, when you're going this, not fancy at all. Not luxury, not super luxury, yeah. It's luxury in my opinion because all the furniture are very high quality, all the things are inside, but they are basic, luxury, so there is nothing that makes you feel like you are in a five-star hotel, but there is nothing that makes you feel you are in a basic retreat center, like a very good style place, and that has been the goal, and I have to say that very happy how it came out, we receive any kind of people from like normal, common people to quite rich people, and everybody enjoyed the same outcome from the place, the arena, they don't say, "Oh, it's missing this, it's missing that," and they're not saying, "Oh, this is too fancy for me," or "I don't feel comfortable, I'm out of my space," because sometimes, you know, the job that they come to do here, it's very deep, so we decided that the rooms are very, very basic, there is no art in any room, we decided not to put anything on the walls because we wanted people to really feel comfortable and not having anything that put them out of their comfort zone, of course we have a lot of art that is the art that we collected in many years traveling in the common area, it's more easy because you can be with other people, so it's not like your private space, another important thing that we decided to do, and I have to say, sometimes it backfires, is that we decided not to have internet in the rooms. Oh wow! So, you have a first internet in the common area, you have first internet in the pool area, but in the private in your room, there is no internet because if you have to get off your comfort zone to be able to work on yourself, you can be connected, it will be like you're not here, like you're in the office, you're like a Catholic, or you're in your bed at home, watching videos, big talk, or whatever it is, and so in a couple of times we had people that once they got this, they said, "Oh, I can't do it, it's right there," because you know, my clientele, they are like family members, they need to talk to the kid, they need like, "Okay, I accept it, I understand it, I'm not saying it's right or wrong," because everybody needs to do what they feel is right for them, but I think that has been a fantastic choice, because if you come for the reason that we created the retreat center, then that will make it a big difference in the outcome that you will get once you've done a really great. So interesting. So you created this thing, this isn't what you were doing with your whole life, so how did you know what to do, how did you know how to figure out, how to feed people and who cooks for you, and what, like you had a lot to figure out at the beginning, right? Yeah. So the beginning idea was that I was cooking for the retreat center, as I had a business for 10 years in Hong Kong, that was an online shop for five Italian food, and I used to organize private chef dinners, I worked with one, two, three established Italian chefs in Hong Kong for private people. So I had an idea of what does it mean, what does it take to feed people, it's not gonna be wrong, and of course it was a longer thought because you have to manage the space, and to manage a space like this, you have no time to cook. So at the beginning, the idea is being okay, we hired a chef that lives here because of course every employee that we have here lives in our space, you can't travel forward now, and the plus, you need to be able to serve anybody when they need it. Yeah. And being all we see at I-Lift here, personally, I-Lift here, that's an important fact, so we decided to have a resident chef for one year, but then we found out that probably it was not the right idea because yes, the retreats are all different, but we are all we see here, and having the same person cooking every single day, 365 days. It made it expensive from a certain point of view, not worth because of course on 12 months, we are busy busy right now, I would say 19 months a year, the other two months, you think someone from yeah, and the other part is that working with different chefs makes it much more interesting, you have in any case, we are vegetarian of vegan from day one, so you can't then no meat, no fish, because we think that to work on yourself you need to be light, and that this kind of diet is much more appropriate in our idea. And so I started looking for chefs that they were available to come to do one, two, three, four, five retreats depending on their availability, so I have now four, five, six, seven chefs that I can call and decide it, okay, who's doing this, who's doing that, based on the type of clients that come in, the type of causing that they do, and that's it, of course we also decided that if you want to be organic and natural, we need to be producing of course not everything, but a good part of the food that we provide, so we have like a thousand square meter of vegetables. That everybody that works here work on, so even my cleaning employees or the kitchen employees, they all dedicate the time in the garden, me myself the same, so we try to do as much as we can from our garden, of course I also work with the local produce area in a circle where we are, so we are able to give back a bit of what's coming to the area where we end the community in which we are, an experience comes, I mean luckily for me I'm quite picky as a person quite precise almost for the and that had the author because of course I never take anything likely, at least the beginning, because I wanted to be sure that I think you can have the best place in the world, but if the service is not at the standard that it would be a bad experience, and I live in Teneers, in Asia where service is the first product, you know you're coming from a country from a region that is Europe, Italy, where you produce, so what you sell it's the product, then the service okay comes together but now of course everything is getting better and better but I remember when I was younger, service was horrible, horrible, a drastic product, terrible customer care, in Hong Kong you have customer care is the top and because I worked ten years for a very wealthy people, the service, the customer care that I was providing had to be the best possible at the top level and that gave me a lot of knowledge on what I had to do to be sure that people will enjoy from day one the last day to be here and that's how it works and it's still working. I'm sure that's why you get good reviews and you get people coming back because I agree with you it doesn't matter the other stuff won't matter if the service isn't good right people will still complain if they have the best food and the best classes and the best experience but bad service, it won't work great especially in hospitality. What's the people complaining any piece? Of course of course of course we're what you can't the make everybody happy. That's another part that you have to accept and consider because of course I want to have 99 people on 100 therapy. Very happy. But I'm realistic. Some people don't like the pool because it's a natural pool so the water is not crystal clear because it's alive and we are in the hot weather so it's even more alive. We don't have air conditioning in the rooms because we don't want so where we are is a very dry area. So it's very hot in the day in summer time but it's also getting cool of cold in the night and so we didn't want people to come in in nature and stay close in the room. Yeah. In the common area because my 17 degrees super good and you never go out and you never really enjoy nature so it's a way of pushing a bit. People again out of their comfort zone but that's what give you back reviews like oh my god I enjoy so many the animals I enjoy nature the nature is amazing and you're like yes you enjoyed it because you've been forced to experience it because you have a standard that okay I go in the room I put on 18 degrees 19 degrees and till is a night I don't go out because that will be then you miss out on everything. Yeah. So you could be easily in the center of a city and it would be the same because you would be closing a five by five or five by four room and not experience anything so that's another risky move. I mean you have two things that I think are potentially risky which I think are so amazing that you did it but one of them is obviously the air conditioning that's wild. Like I bet you Americans complain more about that than anybody else because we don't even know what that means and then the other thing that I think is so interesting is the no Wi-Fi and the rooms that I'm sure there are people that automatically say not for me and so by choosing to come there I mean you you made a choice right you know even if you don't know you know right you made a decision. I always say to everybody if you need to take a call that is private and you need to do everything I give you my office that is no problem. Yeah. My office take the call you are in private because sometimes there are clients that they have like an appointment with the doctor or whatever it is online and they and they say like you know I don't feel comfortable in the common area. And the office you sit down in the office you take all the time you read there is no problem. That's the only possible excuse if you have to talk to your leader to your husband you can do it sitting on a sofa with your glass and you do it and there is no problem at all there is nothing that private of that serious that you don't want anybody to understand what you're doing. And you work out much more in the better way than I thought and we thought because I was scared honestly speaking the wrong point of being pushed to put air conditioning and put Wi-Fi but luckily for us the two main houses are like under the adult the walls the main walls of course we've done completely the roof we've done the door windows everything is double-class everything is very insurated so that if you pay attention a bit of what you're doing so you don't go out of your room and leave the door open in 2 p.m. where do you have 40-35 degrees 40 degrees outside and you leave it open for 3 hours and then you think you're going inside you switch on that condition you get cold you will never do that so you pay a bit more attention but you keep it closer and then in the night we have mosquito nets everywhere and we hold the rooms and a window and the door with a mosquito net so we have an air flow going through and because it's dry as soon as the sun drops the temperature starts dropping we can have 42 degrees in the day and 19 in the night. So you understand the 19 degrees you want to have a duvet on your bed so we keep a 100 grams duvet on some alone 42 degrees is hot oh we got as a max temperature they hear that we came here to see the place 46 degrees oh my god yeah it never came back luckily that's why I only can see it's a 130 something yeah that's crazy it's not even that's impossible to imagine oh it's super possible because it's very dry and very easy and very easy and so you can still stay outside of course in the shade not the back sun or you will probably disappear but you can stay in the pool and you can enjoy it very much what's the biggest challenge like what are the things that have been the hardest for you to either deal with or work around or that were the most surprising challenges so the main one for the first year and after it has been moving from Hong Kong where if you ask something to accompany for tomorrow you will receive it yesterday to a place where if you ask something for tomorrow you will probably receive in the future that has been that's been the biggest challenge that I faced till I understood why Portuguese people live so well because they don't stress out for things that are not that important to reality so they take their time and once you start understanding how they work from a thinking point of view also you understand that they will understand when something is really urgent and then we show up when you ask and they will understand when it's not that urgent you know I'm gonna die if I can't not tomorrow the day after tomorrow for these things because everything is working in any case it's not that like oh my god the major problem occurred because when it occurred it happened that we are like oh my god we have to fix this I have like 20 people are sleeping here and I don't have a water coming in the next 10 hours and my storage will not be enough and then even if it's a Sunday and they're at home they will come to so I have only to say thank you so many times to everybody here in Serpa basically because we try to work only with companies from the latest village that we have across to us because we wanted to give back as much as we could to the community and we wanted to fit in in this community and it has been the perfect approach we arrive very humble and we stay humble and I'm still staying super humble now of course I know everybody and I love it because one thing that I struggle and I never like to live in a city is that you're a number I don't like to be a number and I don't like to be around numbers I like to be around people that they I know even if I don't personally exactly know them but I know who they are more or less they know who I am more or less yeah and that's for me has been the saving part of the experience at the beginning when it was difficult plus I have to say portuguese culture is amazing because mostly also in this rural area you go around nobody knows you but if you have an eye contact with somebody it will be immediately morning good afternoon I like direct like they know you and you know you can in city in which even the people that knows you have problems say good morning or good afternoon yeah I grew up in a small city so for me that was the standard yeah and I fighting on combat to create that kind of standard in my leader area to be sure that they knew everybody bus driver taxi driver or something to be sure that I felt a trauma yeah and they've been amazing let me feel a trauma from day one do you speak english there in the resort or do you speak portuguese or Italian like what does that like for you when you have what they want I do I also speak italiana with hands okay it's beautiful characteristic that when we don't speak a language we manage because we can't stay still yeah to let the other person understand I would say three quarter of the time I speak english do you speak portuguese yeah I learned portuguese yes it's not as English okay I started for like a month and then I understood that the best way to learn a language is to live with people and be forced to learn it because you don't copy that's right and I'm lucky enough to make friends with some local people that are now very very good friends that they speak only portuguese and they took me with them they invite in every single week at least to a lunch with different people from serpas so that I could meet and know people and three quarter of the time I was understanding probably 10% of what they were saying but it was very welcoming I was not like putting a corner yes and and fit you're here okay now you you have to understand how to manage it I've always been very involved in any kind of thing that was happening and then make me I would say push me to learn as fast as I could at least the basics and be able to communicate of course now it's seven years I'm here I don't have a perfect portuguese but I can [BLANK_AUDIO] conversation with anybody without any problem. I write in book to this too. So it's ideal and I use it probably 5%. So interesting. It's interesting because I think what you're describing, it's not typical, right? There are certain places in the world where it might be, but it's not typical that you get that kind of welcoming. Like I feel like it's hard to learn a language when you get immediately intimidated and you shut down because you don't feel comfortable, but it sounds like you have people there that purposely made you feel comfortable. I think it's an attitude. I face what you're talking about because I have to say in Switzerland, I lived almost two years in a Neshotel and I've never felt so bad in my life. Was that correct? Because I mean, in Switzerland, they should speak Italian, French and German. Okay. Those are the three official languages. But I have to say that I'm a very open person, very talkative. I love to be around people when I'm with people I like to chat and I could not make a friend. Of course I was traveling a lot, that didn't help, not going wrong, but it has been very difficult. In any other part of the world that went, I managed to arrive and find my way through blocker people. I think is how you present yourself. I don't think it is a matter of course. You need to be courageous enough to go and try to talk a language that you don't know being ready to lose three quarters of the times. That is something that creates a bridge into any culture, any person that allows you to show them that you really care of being part of the community, where they are really landing. I think that's then attracts people that want to interview. Yes. Yes. How you put yourself makes the environment in which you will leave? I think that you can arrive. Oh, you're stupid. Oh my god, this guy, oh, but these are cold times. I don't want to talk. Then all the people that would like to, at the beginning are the first ones saying, okay, she's not coming to stay here. It's coming to, it's a dominant smart, intelligent person coming in as more village and thinking that we are all done kids or aunts or whatever you want to call them. I have to say, I met people like that here. And they're spudgy. And they have very little friends. That's normal. I don't want to be friends with these people. And I'm not allowed to. Yeah. I don't like the attitude. If you don't like the place and the people where you live, don't leave there. Yeah. Nobody forced you to live in a place that you choose by doing it because you're local. That's right. I want to be respectful of your time. And I want to give you the chance to just say, like, what advice would you give people who are? I mean, you took a giant leap of faith. You just decided to do something that wasn't what you were doing, wasn't what you knew. And it was in a totally different place, like not even a different city. You went to from Hong Kong to Portugal and you weren't from either of those places. So what advice would you give to people who are sort of trying to make decisions about, do I take a risk? Do I start my own thing? I mean, start your think. You need to have it. Or something that you have it from the moment to born, I would say, or it's difficult. Choosing the place I have to say that is a funny but trust your gut. We saw this place. We bought it. We immediately felt that this was what we were looking for. Even if it was the opposite of what we visualized in our mind, but we felt it. So I would say, if you feel that's correct. And of course, everything aligns with your possibilities. Then I would say, take the step and go with your feelings and work hard. Of course, you have to work hard. And that's it. I think if you believe in what you're doing, it can take one year or five years. But if you continue believing what you're doing at one point, you will make it. And you will make your dream to come true. Maybe not at the top level, but enough to be happy with your choice. Do you get any time off at all? No, part of the job. We are very three-centred, but we also are as more fun. We have horses, we have dunkies, we have chickens, we have a big garden. My time off is sometimes work. On different things, on something that I like. I mean, I do this life because I like it. It's not like it will be possible to do it because I get up at 6.30, 6 in the morning, every single morning with the light. And I start the first hour, I start doing things before and then I do breakfast. And then I maybe dedicate a bit of time to me to see what to do, to relax, or whatever it is. But there is no Saturday, there is no Sunday. Let's for sure. Yeah, that's pretty wild. You know, I don't think you said the name of your retreat once. So can you make sure to say it so that people know how to find you? It's Quinta Marugo retreats. So it's written like Quinta saying in Italian Marugo because it's Merri and Enugo, so we joined the name and we created Marugo and retreats of course. We are in Serpa, Portugal. That's amazing. I will make sure that when I send out the blog post, and when we post this on the podcast, we'll have the link to your place so people can find it. Yeah, it has been such a pleasure talking to you. Thank you for listening to The Irresistible Factor. I'm Christy Bridges and I can't wait to see you next Wednesday.