Juan Tain Varela, a native of Cáceres, Extremadura, Spain, learnt to appreciate the natural beauty of the region where he grew up along the Tagus, the longest river on the Iberian Peninsula. In 2007, after he obtained his Spanish high school certificate (Bachillerato), he intended to enroll at the University of Extremadura. However, his summer plans altered when his father's company moved him to their forest and paper manufacturing facilities in the Brazilian state of Maranho.