Ігор Вишневський Історії 26 December 2025, 09:00

"I spend no more than 5 euros a day. That's including gasoline." The story of an IT guy who has been living in a tent on an island in the middle of the ocean for over six months and is building his dream house with his own hands

Serhiy Aityvets celebrated Christmas 5,000 km from Kyiv, on an island where he is building a house with his own hands. He previously worked in a number of technical positions, at the mobile operator Kyivstar, the global technology company Dreamscape Networks, and several Ukrainian government agencies, while also working on freelance projects in the IT sector.

But now the IT guy is implementing the most unusual personal life project — without outside help, he is trying to restore the ruins of a house on an island in the Atlantic Ocean. São Miguel is one of the Azores islands with the capital Ponta Delgada, and the hero of this article has been living in a village about 30 km from the capital since April of this year.

«Everything here is already destroyed before us. These are ruins and it won’t get any worse.»

— Why did you decide to buy land and build here? There are many exotic countries, and the Azores are probably not the most popular place?

— There was no super idea, I just came here for the first time in 2020, and I really liked it. I didn’t plan anything then, and in general, the trip here itself was quite random.

Once after work I was watching all sorts of crap on YouTube, and I came across a program about the Azores. I said to my wife: «Oh, we haven’t been there, let’s go!» I think they bought tickets for a not-so-sober mind.

When we returned to Kyiv from there, I thought that it would be nice to live in such a place. So, for about six months, I was choosing a plot of land to buy.

I used the local resource idealista.pt, it is their largest resource for finding and selling real estate.

We stopped at three different sites, wondering which one to choose. Each of them had its pros and cons. In the end, we stopped at one of them.

— As I understand it, you purchased a plot of land with the ruins of an old house that needs to be rebuilt. Was there simply not enough money for a home that you could move into right away, or were there other reasons?

— Of course, I considered such options, and I can’t say that the prices here are unaffordable. But in order to buy land with a house in at least some more or less acceptable condition, I needed $70,000-80,000. At that time, I didn’t have that kind of money, I could have scraped together an amount about half that. So I paid about $40,000 for it.

That is, I settled on the option where I can go live like I do now, in somewhat wild conditions, and slowly build up what I have.

Here, as they say, everything has already been demolished. But you can definitely see that there are no «pitfalls» — these are ruins and it won’t get any worse. There were only some walls here and then — they were broken.

In general, it is a rather peculiar building, it is actually built on a piece of rock. Here, a piece of rock protrudes and the house actually partially stands on it, but a piece of the house is on clay, and because of this, some of the walls have cracked. So I am currently correcting these nuances so that it does not split in half.

My plot of land is on a slope like this. It would probably be great to sled, but there’s no snow here.

«I can go to a public beach and wash myself in a normal shower there»

— You’ve been living in a tent since April, that is, for more than six months? How tired has it been for you? Don’t you regret leaving the comfort of Kyiv?

— Genghis Khan lived in a tent his whole life and conquered half the world. Well, of course, sometimes I want to take a bath or live in a normal house, but in all my numerous travels around the world, I’m used to spending the night in conditions that are not like that.

I have water on the property, so I can wash myself with a bucket. Or I can go to a public beach and wash myself in a normal shower there.

For the first three or four months, I cooked on a regular fire, I have a «broken» frying pan here. When my wife came to visit me for a couple of weeks, she brought a small induction hob.

I temporarily agreed with my neighbor for electricity, they ran a cable until I connected my electricity. I also have an old microwave. In addition, my neighbor also gave me an old washing machine, because I was too lazy to wash by hand. So I’m like a white person now.

— How do you eat? How similar is your diet to the Ukrainian one?

— The most significant difference is not what I eat, but the fact that now I have to cook myself, because in Ukraine my wife cooked about 80% of the food, and I cooked only on weekends. I love cooking, but when you do it every day, the hobby turns into work and I don’t really like it anymore.

So now I cook every other day. I have a day of gluttony, and the other day I eat the minimum. But for the body, such a regime and constant physical work have had their positive effects. When I came here, I weighed a hundredweight, and now I weigh a pound less, that is, 85 kilograms.

It became easier on both my legs and my heart. Of course, when you swim in the sea almost every day, the additional physical activity also makes itself felt.

— How do your neighbors perceive you? You came from nowhere, you live in a tent, you cook your food on a fire… Don’t they have any questions for you?

— People, like everywhere, are different, but I was just lucky with my closest neighbors. They are nice people who invite me over and sometimes help me with something. I told you that one neighbor gave me a washing machine, and another is fixing the electricity. I celebrated Christmas with them very heartily! What can I complain about?

Of course, there are those who «look like hell» — perhaps there is some local xenophobia too. After all, my face is a little bit not exactly European, but more Eastern European. And definitely not local at all. But when you go to a village in Ukraine as a stranger, you can also get punched in the face «for nothing.»

«Formally, I have all the same rights as local citizens»

«And what can you say about this place in general, about the islands, about their capital? How often do you go there?»

— Of course, it’s hard to get around on the island without a car, although there is public transport, and you can also get there from my village. However, there are 4 buses a day in each direction, so you have to adjust to them. So in my first month on the island, I bought a used car, a Nissan Micra for $5,000. I used the local OLX — OLX Portugal. So I’m autonomous if I need to go somewhere or bring something.

The capital is a city of thousands of people, with a population of 80,000, and I would compare it in size to our small regional centers like Lutsk or Rivne. But Ponta Delgada has quite a history, and there is something to see here, a lot of buildings from the Middle Ages.

There are many ancient monasteries and churches here, and they had a good chance of being preserved, because there was never a full-fledged war here. If I remember the information correctly, there was only some kind of uprising, and Portugal gave them autonomy on that basis.

By the way, the language here is not exactly Portuguese. It is very similar and based on Portuguese, but it sounds about the same as Portuguese sounded about 200 years ago. And they call themselves Azoreans.

I started learning the language using something like free online courses at the local employment center.

But when studying and translating, they use English in the courses, so for me it is truly an intellectual task «with an asterisk». English can be understood in the capital, Ponta Delgada, but in the villages — hardly. Actually, everything is the same as in our villages — 90% of the population can’t speak it. Therefore, learning Portuguese here is vital.

In addition to courses, I also use an online resource like Linguno. It’s also free and, in extreme cases, helps to increase the number of familiar words.

— Where do you get the internet for online courses? As in the case of electricity, do you connect to your neighbor’s Wi-Fi or do you just give out your mobile phone?

— No, mobile. How many gigabytes does Kyivstar give, plus I bought a local card here, also quite budget-friendly. That’s enough for me.

— How do you, as a foreigner, receive any administrative or medical services? Do you have the same access to this as local citizens, or are there any restrictions?

— I’ll start with doctors. Formally, I have all the same rights as local citizens. I have health insurance, that is, a state health insurance number. In order to see a doctor, it is mandatory. Of course, you can do without it, but then you have to pay a hefty fee. It can be 50 euros or 200 euros just for a consultation.

But, thank God, I haven’t had any need for serious treatment yet. I only picked up some crap once at sea, they said it was some kind of fungus or parasite. They gave me a prescription for medicine at the pharmacy.

Then I went to their medical institutions, the same queues as ours, the difference is small in this regard. But I have to say that I have one small bonus. The fact is that I donate blood as a donor. I have done it several times here too. I have a donor card, and doctors with such a card are a little more loyal

As for some certificates or something else, now I need to change my license from Ukrainian to Portuguese. Formally it’s free, but there are also paid certificates. You need some kind of medical certificate, and to get it, you need to sign up for a medical board, and to sign up for a medical board, you need a referral from a therapist. And a referral to a therapist can be given by a family doctor, and you need to sign up for him. And you need to sign up at your place of residence. Now I’m solving this quest.

I can also say that I received a fine for non-payment of local land tax. The fact is that initially I was registered in the capital, and the local tax office sent letters to that address. I had to re-register at the location of my plot, but I did not do it.

By the way, in Portugal itself these fines are simply insane, under 500 euros. But in the Azores, since it is an autonomous region and also subsidized, the fine here is a pittance — up to 20 euros. Of course, I will pay it, I just didn’t know what it was. But the second letter came, somehow they had already calculated where I live. I don’t know what their logic was, but in the second letter the fine was already over 30 euros.

I started asking my neighbors what it was so that I wouldn’t have such troubles in the future. Now I realized that I needed to re-register at the place of residence, where this little ruin of mine is. I went to them, went to several instances. In the end, I found where I could re-register — it turns out that it’s not super scary and not problematic. They told me what documents they needed, I brought them.

When I came to this instance, by the way, their network was down, and they were like: «Oh, our computer technician has disappeared somewhere.» I said: «Let’s hire me and everything will work for you.» But, unfortunately, they didn’t hire me. And they wrote out the certificate for me by hand, and then they also gave me a local electronic signature with this certificate. So now I get all the certificates online absolutely without any problems. I recently applied for the status of a resident of the Azores. This status gives me a couple of bonuses — for example, the ferry between the islands will be much cheaper for me, and flights within the country too.

«I haven’t found a job on the island in my specialty as a Linux administrator or network administrator yet.»

— And how do you actually survive? You live on 5 euros a day, but you have to get them from somewhere. And construction isn’t cheap.

— I work with some guys, but I get a service fee rather than a salary from them, and I only solve urgent issues there when something doesn’t work. The stocks that have been put aside are running out, so I’m looking for a job. Preferably, of course, something related to my profession. If I’m going to die of hunger, I’ve been invited to work at a sawmill. But I don’t really want to breathe in dust all day.

I haven’t found a job on the island in my specialty as a Linux administrator or as a network administrator yet. Of course, there are representatives of large telecommunications companies here, but there are no vacancies here yet. And in general, there is a little unemployment here — not critically terrible, but it is. Of course, working as a loader or in a department store to load goods is no problem, even if they arrange it tomorrow. But you have to look for a really qualified and normally paid job here.

Well, actually, after this interview there will also be an interview, but the company is located in Lisbon. The work is remote, but you have to work in the office for two days out of every 10 days. Well, we’ll see. If the salary is normal, then you can fly two or three times a month, because the flight costs 40-45 euros, which is quite affordable money.

— And on the islands, besides construction, do you do anything else, do you go somewhere?

— But he met the president last Friday! No, this is not a joke. It was a conference on artificial intelligence in the town of Lagoa, a suburb of the capital like our Brovary. They built a quarter there — a purely IT district.

There, by the way, Google has now bought a building, they are going to build a large data center. And they are pulling an underwater cable from America specifically for this thing. This will be another connection between Europe and America, but through the Azores. And, of course, I have very high hopes of getting there to work someday.

But now they’re just plastering it, roughly speaking. That is, they’re bringing the building back to normal. They’re creating a kind of mini-Silicon Valley there.

I got a little distracted: so, this conference was being held, it was being opened by the president. And before the opening, it so happened that I met a mathematician, an acquaintance from Odessa. And he or his acquaintances, it turns out, know the president. Well, they also took me to him for a minute — not that we directly got along, but we held hands.

«I hoped to get everything done by New Year’s. Now I see that those were unrealistic plans.»

— What do people in this region live on anyway? You said that the Azores are generally a subsidized region.

— Subsidized in terms of the fact that there are no industrial giants here, but the food industry is at a very high level. So almost the only thing that is exported here is food. And, of course, all these sea things that local fishermen catch.

I can’t say that I indulge myself with fish and seafood every day, but once a week it’s definitely in my diet. Moreover, the prices for many types of fish are very reasonable, if not cheap. I’ve tried the famous Luna fish here, I’ve tried good squid, and shrimps — almost all the time.

There are big discounts on expensive fish the next day — if today it costs 17-18 euros, then tomorrow it can be 5 euros. If there are no such discounts, then I just buy tuna, it costs 2.50 euros here. Fish is cheaper to eat here than meat, and even high-quality meat.

To conclude this agricultural review, so to speak, the Azores are like a paradise for cows. They themselves have a saying that, I think, is close to the truth. Because there are more cows here than people. They really don’t care! And, accordingly, there is a lot of all kinds of «milk», a lot of cheeses and they are of very high quality. Tasty and not for very much money. Well, beef is also, accordingly, not very expensive.

As for vegetables, the prices are also comparable to ours, perhaps a little more expensive. Potatoes are 70-90 euro cents, onions are up to a euro, carrots too. There are many vegetables and fruits in this range.

— Well, let’s finally talk about the main thing — you have a wife in Kyiv. When do you finally plan to move her to your place?

— My number one task right now is to put up the walls and make the floor. At first, I hoped to have everything done by New Year’s. Now I see that those were unrealistic plans.

It doesn’t always depend on me, sometimes it depends on the weather or other factors. Yesterday, for example, I felt inspired to work, but I worked for two hours, and then the rain stopped, and then I had a Portuguese lesson.

I would like to see her here by her birthday, so I plan to finish what I have planned in the first quarter of next year.

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