Today we’d like to introduce you to Andres And Sherry Osorio – Alfaro
Hi Andres and Sherry , we’d love for you to start by introducing yourself.
We met in 2017 and got married a year later. Andres was very much into camping while I (Sherry) have always been into traveling. So, early in our relationship we would take road trips until he started with the idea of living full time on the road in a vehicle. We first bought a 1971 Aristocrat Camper and fully remodeled it but realized we didn’t like the idea of towing. Then Andres did a ton of research as to what would be the best option for taking it abroad. That is how we ended up with La Chata our ’91 Toyota Dolphin and home on wheels. We named her La Chata because at the time we had 3 Shih Tzu’s which are flat faced “chatos” in Spanish so since she was our baby on wheels we wanted to honor them.
Since then we have remodeled her twice the first time keeping most of the original and just updating it and making it more our style. The second time due to a horrible accident where our back dualies (double tires in the back) blew up causing a giant hole in our floor and taking with it the plumbing to our heater, our fresh water tank and our refrigerator. This remodel took us over a year to re-do as we found ourselves tearing it down to the bare bones realizing that the subfloor was rotten and the metal supports had all rusted out. It was heartbreaking but, we tried to see this as an opportunity to truly make it our own and to give it the comforts of this century. Now, even though she is in constant tweaking she truly feels like home.
She has taken us to 13 states, 24 national parks and counting, plenty of amazing state parks and natural spots and some incredible towns and drives in between.
We have taken her to the lowest and highest point in the continental US and slowly but surely she has gotten us there safe and sound. We have slept next to rivers, lakes, hot springs, in canyons and in deserts well and of course, the occasional parking lot or rest area but, that is what this life is all about.
We do a live every Thursday at 5 pm on our Instagram account and through that plus our amazing community of followers we have met both online and in real life people that we can now call friends. People that we have traveled with and shared unforgettable experiences.
We also love how this lifestyle has given us the opportunity to share with people of all ages, ethnicities and share in the different cultures but, always realizing that we are all so much more alike than we are different. We all care for the fundamentals of love, family and the pursuit of happiness. It has given us a outlook into our planet that we simply couldn’t understand before to live simply doesn’t mean to deprive yourself, it means more to be grateful for all the little moments that come your way. To live with less for us means living with more space, more sun, more nature. And believe it or not it means living in a tighter community which has been the most surprising factor about this or the one factor we simply didn’t expect. The pouring of help when one is in need and the reaching out half way across the planet is what makes nomad living worth while.
Now we currently travel with our 2 male maltipoos and our baby Ginger a mutt that is still growing. 5 years later we are wanting to take them to explore more of the world into other countries and other languages but, first we are committed to seeing more of the US so we are still hanging out here for a while until we can check off all the states and national parks. Plus, we take in other travelers mostly crossing the Pan American route on their way to Alaska which has allowed for us to be even more prepared and knowledgeable about what is to come and be able to give a helping hand fills our hearts with joy.
In the meantime I still run my custom furniture business in Culver City while Andres keeps honing his videography and photography skills maintaining our social media prescience and our you tube channel. We are also currently learning how to start producing e-courses and e-Books as a ways to create a passive income and share the knowledge we have learned through all this building of our RV as well as how we have grown our community.
Can you talk to us a bit about the challenges and lessons you’ve learned along the way. Looking back would you say it’s been easy or smooth in retrospect?
oh boy where to start?
Struggles many from me not being convinced that we could do this to seeing mostly people in their 20’s on you tube videos and thinking no way I can leave behind my house, my shop and constant flowing water (believe it or not that is still at the top of my worries having enough water)
When we started we had no idea what to buy, what to look for in a camper and got totally screwed by the seller heck we didn’t even checked if it was up to date which it wasn’t. It took us a year to remodel it taking it down to the frame and having to build out the walls from scratch only to be finished and then realize we had no business towing. We didn’t even have the car to tow it with. Now I laugh but back then we felt the despair.
Then we bought La Chata (which of course it didn’t have a name yet) spent 6+ months painting her on the inside, updating things, fixing the roof, changing out 30+ year old carpet for vinyl looking back on it we truly had done so much only to take our first trip to central CA and having her quit on us over the Tejon pass. The motor couldn’t take the summer heat going up hills (a problem we still suffer on occasion)
The worst was when we thought we had lost her in the accident and that we would have to junk her but, she gave us the biggest lesson of our lives: if its made out of wood and metal it can be fixed and so with little to no knowledge we proceeded to re build her and put her back on the road.
Then there have been many personal struggles such as not being from a generation that grew up with technology or knew anything about social media. I mean we didn’t even know how to truly use our phone camera let alone all the angles, lighting, and transitions. We also posted just for the fun of it to share our experiences but not with the purpose to grow so learning algorithms, when and how to post, keeping up with trends, collaborating etc has all been like going back to school.
Andres has always struggled with speaking in front of the camera and being able to fully express his thoughts continues to be something he works on everyday. He is shy and reclusive by nature so of course when he came to me with the idea of being a you tuber it was like, have you met yourself? Nowadays, I admire his tenacity and his constant ability to put the project before his adversities.
While I have and continue to struggle to see myself in camera. I have no problem talking that comes like second nature but putting my body out there for all to see and to judge still gives me nightmares. I also struggle with the idea of one day leaving my business which is my father’s legacy. He passed away in 2020 of Covid and that was a huge blow to my family the repercussions we are still struggling with today. Economically it has been difficult to keep up with the responsibilities left to me in Costa Rica where my family is from as well as, family affairs that even though I live faraway impact my life on a daily basis.
We have also lost our 3 babies in the last 4 years and even though we have adopted others because in our heart we know we can give a dog a great home we still miss them and their little personalities everyday. For us that couldn’t have any human children and that live so far away from our relatives, our dogs are not just dogs they are our family.
As you know, we’re big fans of you and your work. For our readers who might not be as familiar what can you tell them about what you do?
Andres studied to be a nurse but later realized was more passionate about soccer so studied to be a trainer and a referee. In fact, when we met that is what he did full time. He is most proud of all the kids that he was able to help way beyond soccer but through the disciple of the sport as well as their mental and physical health. He was more than just a coach he was truly a mentor specially for those kids that didn’t have a father figure or a man to look up to. They were kids that didn’t have the opportunity to go to the best teams yet, Andres thought them that what is important is playing and not the competition or the industry it has become.
He has also been a referee for the last 9 years at schools mostly in the South Bay for kids games at the middle school age. He loves the fact that soccer at this level has advanced allowing kids to show their abilities both for boys and girls.
Currently, Andres works for the social media for Buena Vida Route. He is the one that creates all of our reels, shorts, and long version videos for the different platforms specializing in videos that have to do with travel but as the name says it, it also includes all the factors that make a “good life” which for us is also, good food, time spent with out dogs, time spent with friends, nature and showcasing the beauty of this world. He is known for his heart of gold, the good friend that is always willing to lend a helping hand and for being honest to a fault. I feel that what sets him apart is that he always finds the good in people, always sees the positive in things (annoyingly so) and generally keeps a good grateful sense of being.
Sherry started out studying hotel and restaurant administration with an emphasis in tourism in Costa Rica where I lived at the time. This with the intention that a chef would take me under his wing since there wasn’t a culinary school in Costa Rica at the time. Well, that never happened and instead I worked at customer service and concierge which I really enjoyed as it combined some of my favorite things in life, travel, food, research and organization.
Then for some personal reasons I decided to move back to the US with the intention to study culinary arts. Yet, I ended up taking over the family business when I realized my father’s manager was robbing him blind. So, in order to do it right I went to Architectural Design School and once done with that finally decided to pursue my dream of becoming a Chef. Even before graduation I had found work cooking but sadly after only a couple of years I had severe eye problems and surgeries that came after that prevented me from going back to work at a commercial kitchen. Fortunately, as a good friend pointed out one day in my slump of “I can’t believe this is happening to me” I had something to fall back on that I actually liked. I realized how fortunate I was and went back to working full time at the shop. Many years later I went back and got a specialty as a Pastry Chef but my labors of love nowadays are only enjoyed by my friends, hubby and our dogs.
Currently and for the past 23 years I have ran Ralph’s Interiors a custom furniture shop where we build from scratch pieces but, also reupholster, slipcover and create all sorts of bedding, pillows and cushions. I’m proud to continue it but, are aware that one day Buena Vida Route will need to be our number one focus and means of work and living.
What would you say have been one of the most important lessons you’ve learned?
That just because its old it doesn’t mean it doesn’t work. That has been for both us as people in our mid 40’s pursuing a lifestyle previously mostly done by people half our age. As well as for our rig which is now 33 years old, old for sure when it comes to cars but, was given a second chance at life. And as most things we choose we prefer to recycle or upcycle and buy something used, that was once well built that all the plastic poorly built things being massively produced nowadays that will only end up in some landfill or worse in our waterways.
Pricing:
- T-shirts $20
- Baseball Caps $25
- Aprons $60
- Post Cards $5
- Stickers $Donation
Contact Info:
- Website: https://buenavidaroute.com/
- Instagram: @buenavidaroute15
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100041858173983&mibextid=LQQJ4d
- Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@BuenaVidaRoute
- Other: https://beacons.ai/buenavidaroute
Image Credits
All images taken by us. We give full permission to use.
