Do you ever sit there just scrolling through instagram and hoping you ’ ll run into a new post by your favorite instagrammers ? Well we do , and we are always stoked when @ overlandtheamericas posts something new for us to drool over . Ernesto and Taisa have been one of the most inspirational overlanding couples we follow , well you know they ’ re tied with @ DeskToGlory . But that ’ s a story for another time . Ernesto and Taisa left Seattle in their trusty Toyota 4runner in mid-2015 to explore all 23 countries in the Americas . We were able to catch up with Ernesto and Taisa via email and ask them some questions about their inspiring trip
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Can you guys introduce yourselves to our readers and tell us a little bit about how you two met ?
[ Ernesto ] Hey Michael and Proven Overland readers ! I ’ m Ernesto , driver , photographer and designer of our travel project , Overland The Americas . I was born and raised in Venezuela and moved to Seattle to attend college about 15 years ago . During my years as a student I fell in love with the Pacific Northwest and its wilderness . Only after a few hikes and camping trips in Washington state I felt I was in the place I wanted to call home . Right after college I landed a corporate job which felt amazing at the time . Like most people , I worked the daily grind for years hopping from corporate job to corporate job while romanticizing about the idea of a year long road trip to Patagonia .
[ Taisa ] I ’ m Taisa , navigator , chef and researcher for Overland The Americas . I am from New Jersey where I grew up in a tight-knit Ukrainian American community . This included Ukrainian school , folk dancing and tons of scouting camps which inspired my love for the outdoors . I went on to study geography , Spanish and international environmental policy . After a bunch of schooling I was happy to apply my skilIs in the garbage and recycling world for the Washington State Department of Ecology . After seven years of dedicated public service , I was pretty excited to take a break and play !
How did we meet ?... It ’ s kind of a long story . We ’ ll try to summarize it . We met in Merida , Venezuela in the kind of place where all good lasting relationships start , at a bar ! ;) – At the time , Taisa was doing a semester abroad as part of an exchange program between Penn State University and La Universidad de Los Andes . I was living in the city where I was selling my condo prior to moving to the United States .
Taisa went back to finish her undergrad program at Penn State . I had my mind set on Seattle but we met back up in Pennsylvania for Taisa ’ s last semester . After her graduation I bought a 1991 Aerostar for $ 1000 auctioned by PennState and drove it from New Jersey , Taisa ’ s home , to Seattle where I would attend college . Three months later Taisa joined me and we have been together ever since .