波多黎各男子建UFO形房屋 只爲兌現40年前對前女友承諾

'It was the mother who explained to him that her daughter had said that he would never amount to anything in life. He was shocked. He used to live on the 13th floor, and he wanted to throw himself off, but he held himself back and said, ‘No, I’m going to show her, this person, I’m going to work that much harder to show her who I am.’

Completing his studies at Pontifical Catholic University in Ponce, Rivera studied design and fine arts, and resolved to build his UFO house and make it with his own hands.

Purchasing the land in 2002 for $95,000, Rivera spent the next ten years and $150,000 constructing his unusual futuristic home - even wiring it up to emit the famous five tone signature theme from Close Encounters of the Third Kind.

The spot he picked is visible for miles around by drivers on the passing highway and Rivera intentionally chose the hillside so that the unnamed girl who broke his heart would see the UFO home and know that he had amounted to something.

Scrimping and saving over the ten years it took him to build the house, Rivera fitted out his home not with expensive high tech appliances, but with dollar-store ashtrays made to resemble antennae and used $1.99 salad bowls for his flashing light fixtures.

As the fame of his alien house on the hillside grew in the surrounding area, Rivera received an unusual visit four years ago in the dead of night - the girl who had broken his heart 40-years ago.

During those years he had married, had two children and divorced himself, but his first love called him up out of the blue and he invited her to see the home which he had built with any piece of scrap metal he could find.

The octagon home was in its final stages of completion and the girl was so impressed she told Rivera that she wanted to get back together with him, but Rivera knew that finally his feelings for the girl had gone and turned her down.

Satisfied that he had completed what he promised himself he would, Rivera, who claims he has no interest in science-fiction has advice for anyone who finds himself in the same predicament. 'You should never say to any human being, 'You can never accomplish anything in life.'

【新聞快訊】

爲了兌現自己40年前對前女友許下的承諾，58歲的波多黎各工藝美術教師里維拉建造了一幢UFO形房子。報道稱，40年前里維拉是個窮學生。他曾向當時的女友承諾，要爲他們兩人建一棟UFO形房子。但女友嫌他窮拋棄了他。這令里維拉傷心欲絕。

雖然已和女友分手多年，但里維拉始終沒有忘記當初的承諾。他於2002年買下一塊土地，花費10年時間，建造了這棟充滿科學幻想的“UFO屋”。據悉，里維拉的前女友看到房子後欲破鏡重圓，但里維拉對她已沒有感情，一切已是覆水難收。