Brazilian couple travelling the globe with their dog arrive in North Bay area

A couple from Brazil who have driven across much of the Americas with their dog have arrived in northern Ontario.

Tahlia Pinheiro and Vinicius Estrela, along with their dog, Chop, started their trek two years ago, moving through Brazil down to the tip of South America in Argentina before working their way back up into Mexico and across the U.S. border.

Most recently, they spent New Year’s Eve in New York City before crossing yet another border, this time into Canada into Sturgeon Falls, Ont., where they are staying with friends.

Pinheiro said they weren’t happy with the life they were leading and her partner began developing anxiety and depression.

“We had money, but sometimes we didn’t have time,” she said.

“And when we had time, most of the time we didn’t have health to go and spend money.”

She said they were inspired by their six-year-old dog, Chop, to get moving and enjoy life while they still could.

“Chop lives in the present, 24 hours a day,” Pinheiro said.

“He basically needs nothing. He needs our company. He gets sad when we are not around him, so we started to think of what could make him happy. So we decided to present the world to chop -- so he was our main inspiration.”

Estrela said the extended trip is for all three of them. So if there’s somewhere Chop can’t go, none of them go.

“It’s awesome because Chop has been with us since he’s little,” he said. “The trip is always thought of in three.”

Coming from Brazil, Estrela said experiencing snow and extreme cold has been a revelation.

“Everything we consider as a new experience,” he said.

“So we’re very grateful to be able to have these new experiences.”

For her part, Pinheiro said they had good friends to visit in the areas they’ve driven to so far. And Chop is having the time of his life.

CHOP LOVES THE SNOW

“He loves snow and swimming, so we have to get to snow as fast as possible for him to be happy,” she said.

Pinheiro said they sometimes camp and sometimes stay in hotels when they’re not staying with friends.

“We’ve developed a new concept of home, so everywhere we go we consider our home,” she said.

“Throughout all the journey we’ve had, we miss people. We don’t actually miss stuff, we don’t miss product, we don’t miss items. We miss situations with people and the only pain we have is missing people.”

The couple’s final destination is Alaska, which they should reach in four or five months. From Sturgeon Falls, they will head to Toronto and back into the U.S. They’ll drive to Chicago and take Route 66 to California before coming back up into Alberta, British Columbia and then Alaska.

“We ourselves are learning a lot,” Pinheiro said.

“We consider ourselves very different people than who we were two years ago. And this is because we’re putting ourselves in very different situation.”