Month 3?! Holy smokes, where did that go! Part of me feels like we’ve only just hit the road, then when I think back to our first night in Rio, it feels like we’ve been travelling for ages. Brazil, Uruguay, Argentina, Bolivia then now Peru – and what a ride it’s been. Only recently have Joel and I hit our travelling stride; these days, we don’t feel so off balance all the time. We’ve made South America our home.

The last few days have been a whirlwind of condor spotting, a 2-day hike to a lush oasis, a scenic flight over ancient formations and sand boarding and buggying through desert dunes at sunset. Oh, and we’ve also been cramming in as much work as we can. All in a week! Seeing condors riding high on the wind currents in the Colca canyon, soaring and swooping in the air, it dawned on me that we’re living similar lives to these birds – we’re just as free. We can go where the wind takes us and move on when we feel like it. We can speak a little Spanish and new places don’t intimidate us anymore. Back in the office in Auckland, I felt like I had so much life and energy in me that was wasted a lot of the time. Now, I’m actually living – and it’s a wild, exhilarating feeling that I don’t want to lose any time soon.

Speaking of flying free like a condor; a few days ago we took a Cessna plane over the Nazca lines on the Peruvian coast. These hieroglyphs are 1,500 years old, up to 300 metres long and can only be seen from the air. Questions still remain unanswered – Why were they made? Who made them? What do they signify? Flying in a small aircraft over the Peruvian desert was surreal in itself, while seeing the lines up close was downright magical – the lines of the hummingbird, the spider, the alien and the dog stood out clear as daylight against the burnt gold of the earth. Losing my breakfast because of motion sickness didn’t even dull my enjoyment.

We’ve been living the life of Ryan this last week. I’ve never experienced a sunset like the one we saw last night out sand buggying in the desert – the red orb disappearing over the dunes bathed the entire desert in a surreal, golden-hued light. Sunset capped off our 2-hour tour through the dunes of South-West Peru. Crazy jumps in the buggy, sand boarding and a dried-up Oasis made this an unexpected highlight of our time with Mum in South America. We had to keep reminding ourselves we were in Peru because the landscapes around us looked so much like the Middle-east!

We’re slowly making plans for our travels as we go. Once Mum heads home from Lima, there are no deadlines and no commitments – we can take as much time as we want in the places that we love. There are Ecuador and the Galapagos; Colombia and the Amazon and its Caribbean Coast. Further north, Panama’s San Blas Islands and the wildlife and cloud forests of Costa Rica are beckoning. In January we may have a house sitting gig in Canada; and then we’re talking about walking the Pacific Crest Trail – from the Mexican border to the Canadian border; the length of America’s West Coast. There’s nothing in concrete, and that’s a good thing – we’re as free as those condors in the Colca Canyon. Leaving our lives in New Zealand, I was paranoid that I’d regret resigning from my good job at TNZ. Now, I can see that it was meant to be. A whole raft of other career opportunities have opened up since I left, and I’m relishing nurturing my own business from the road.

Sharing the Inca Trail, Machu Picchu and Southern Peru with Mum has been pretty special. She’s been talking about visiting this part of the world since I was little. My OE with Joel has been the catalyst for Mum to make that dream a reality. I think ticking off those bucket list must-do’s and making the most of life is so important – you only live once.

Here’s an overview of our third month on the road; the places, people and things that stand out as highlights (as well as the not-so-good memories!)

Cities/countries visited: Cusco, Ollantaytambo, Aguas Calientes, Yanque, Sangalle, Ica and Paracas (all in Peru).

Best place: For us, Cusco was one of the best cities we’ve visited in South America. Delicious food, ancient Inca buildings, giant Spanish churches and a fun nightlife. The surreal desert landscapes of Ica and Paracas comes a close second.

Favourite memories: Day two of the Inca Trail; hiking into an isolated, high-Amazonian valley on a stone path built 600 years ago. Sleeping in an Oasis in the Colca Canyon (Alli). Overtaking porters on the hardest day of the Inca Trail. Unfolding the treasure map that’s been with us from Rio and discovering Yea Yea Marracuyea. (Joel).

Favourite people: Dani the Rasta. Dan & Carly from NZ. Tom and Julie from America. Carlos from the Fallen Angel. Manolo from Ica.

Favourite meal: Happily, this is a hard one – there’s been so many! Every meal we’ve eaten at the Fallen Angel was magic. Papacho’s for American-style hamburgers. The Inca Grill for the best Lomo Saltado around. All of the juice stands at the San Pedro Market. Fresh avocado and lime juice for lunch in Ollantaytambo.

Worst place: Arequipa – it was just a stopover town for us and we didn’t really find anything there.

Worst memory: Eating at Tunupa in Cusco. Our overnight bus from Cusco to Arequipa on Transzela was pretty horrific as well – they tried to save money on gas by cutting the air conditioning.

Worst meal: The lamb shanks we ate in Tunupa in Cusco & the Chinese meal we had in Arequipa.

We’ve got a few days left with Mum in a lovely hotel in Paracas before she flies home from Lima. Bring on Holland V Argentina tomorrow – fingers crossed for a European final!