Anybody done South America?

[wise_rita]

I'm looking for very broad information here.

Where'd you go
What'd you see/do
Did you have any safety concerns
Were you able to navigate if you had a complete lack of Spanish
What would you do different if you could go back

We're at the very preliminary/consideration stage, and I'm a bit nervous of this region because I'm a panzy.  So tell me what you know!

Gracias!