Advice, recommendations and guidance
 

My girlfriend and I are planning on going to South America in February for three months. We're either going to do a round trip, flying to and from Mexico; or will be flying to New York and flying home from Brazil. We'd like to hear from anyone who's been travelling in South and Central America. As we're Welsh speakers, we're definitely going to the Welsh colony in Patagonia, so that's a definite. As for everything else...we're free to do whatever!

What routes would you advise or advise against? Which destinations would you recommend? Are there any places to eat, swimming holes, beauty spots? We want memorable places you didn't expect to encounter that were unforgettable. We'd like to know everything that anyone has to recommend - just that you've been there and can share your experience with us. Even if it's advise not to miss a certain city, or to try and go to this one specific town. We want to experience as much culture, nature and as much variation as we can.

Thanks :)

Much too vast a question. Get a good guidebook, decide what destinations most interest you, plan a route that looks feasible, and come back to ask about details like places to eat and swimming holes, and an itinerary critique. For a continent the size of SA, someone could write a book --- oh, my, maybe a guidebook--- with answers to your questions---about places you'll never end up. Pointless.

Start with a travel agency ?
Might be helpful.

As for sharing experiences, here are a couple of links to blogs of trips my wife and I took to South America

Last year http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog...ai/6/tpod.html

And in 2008 http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog...ai/1/tpod.html entry 55 onwards

happy to answer any more specific questions you may have.
SambaChula is correct in that your question is way to broad for anyon to answer sensibly.

In planning our two trips to the continent the approach I took was to get a generic guidebook for South America. Fodors is the best wrttten and Lonely Planet has a lot of detail. A map is also good.

Read up a bit an identify the major sites or activities that interest YOU. I might love trekking through the Andes and Inca architecture, you may not.

Research the weather/ climate carefully. There are different climatic regions such as the jungle, the mountains and teh Coast as well as a vast continent whose weather varies a lot form North to South. Forward planning is essential IME.

There are many, many amazing sights in South america. There problem is not so much what to see but what to leave out!

I am from argentina and live in Brazil. If i were you, def do NY-RIO then come back EZE(buenos aires)-NY. good price for ticket for sure.

just remember S America is a huge area and distances far, especially in Patagonia (way south of Australia or New Zealand!) Good luck in the Welsh parts of Argentina, though I hear they all speak Spanish now. Do read Bruce Chatwins In Patagonia before venturing down there.
ALso the weather...by March southern Patagonia is be getting cold so start in February as far south as you intend to go and head north. April is a good time in the central Andes (Bolivia Peru) as usually the wet season has ended and harvesting is on, and the low tourist season.
If you make it as far north as Colombia I have a blog here with recent posts on travel places, life and security in Colombia
http://travelswithmitzi.blogspot.com/