Journalist Ihar Karney told how he became a builder in the Azores

Journalist Ihar Karney, who worked for a long time at "Radio Svaboda" (Radio Liberty), lives with his wife in the Azores after his release and deportation from Belarus. The other day, he shared on Facebook that he has become a builder.

"For almost a month, I've been mastering the basics of an occupation that was previously just a hobby. I've mixed and moved tons of cement, dismantled kilometers of tiles and plasterboard, chiseled out the petrified remains of rammed floors with a perforator, and finally, mastered tools whose existence I had only the most distant ideas about," he writes.

He admits that it was physically challenging – both his age and a couple of years behind bars took their toll. But the journalist never shied away from physical labor – "the village somehow forces you to stay in shape."

Ihar Karney shares observations about construction in the Azores.

"The construction industry in the Azores is as anti-globalist as everything else in an island dimension. Primarily, it's the renovation of old houses that descendants have finally gotten around to. I just came across statistics showing that in Portugal, there are about three hundred thousand neglected 'ruins' that have been inherited and continue to decay for various reasons. As a rule, these are either inheritance disputes or general indifference from the locals. It's better to settle for minimalist tranquility than to commit to inevitable, significant expenses. And the desire for gigantism is evident: if they do undertake a project, a 300-meter house is the minimum standard.

So, since abandoned buildings are not part of the residential stock, prices for any suitable real estate are exorbitant – both for purchase and rent. Wealthy investors – primarily Brazilians, Americans, Canadians, Germans – also contribute, stimulating an already overvalued market.

Someone builds from scratch to move in and live out their days with ocean sunset views, while someone else buys dilapidated properties to restore them according to their own designs. On two out of the three sites I've had to visit in shifts during this time, the clients are remote – a British woman building a "base" for gathering relatives scattered across the world, and a German woman, who has a different extreme – to create a paradise for cats. And there's also a young family, who are diligently renovating their grandfather's apartments."

In the Belarusian journalist's brigade, there's a Ukrainian, a Moldovan, and a Russian.

"Fortunately, everyone has an adequate perception of reality. Only one is much younger, the rest are old-timers. No one dreamed of a future in construction; that's just how fate turned out, 'snap' – and in half," Karney jokes.

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