My last 3 months

I have never seen anywhere like Malawi, it was beautiful and everybody I met was so lovely, I cried when I had to leave!

You just have to know where to go. If you avoid Cusco, then the rest is lovely. Bolivia is not a good place to go currently- there have been a lot of hostage-takings recently and a revolution is in the works. Colombia is lovely, but just not as pretty as Peru. I do recommend Ecuador though- it's lovely and yet it's off the tourist trail.

I presume you haven't visited Colombia if you say Peru is dirty.

In Peru did you see Cajamarca? Trujillo? Tumbes? Pucllapa? Huaraz? Manu? They are really beautiful places, many in the rainforest. They are not dirty in the slightest. Have you been to Bogota? That place is simply vile. Santa Marta also is nasty. Cali also is a bit rough. In San Cipriano there were rats coming out of the river where people were buying floats to go on. I don't see how you can say peru is dirty if you have been to any of those places. In Peru there are shift workers who clean the streets 24 hours a day, and it is the only country in South America to have a health standards agency which closes restaurants down if they are not clean enough. I take it you haven't been to Sao Paolo either?

Political change plus resurfacing of guerilla forces= revolution in my book, hence why the USA is less willing to give visas, and argentina have banned their citizens from traveling there altogether.

Digging up this post a bit, but WHAT!?! How can you compare Bogotá, a capital city, with Cajamarca? Compare Bogotá with Lima and then, oh now I see why you did it, Lima is a dirty uninspiring dangerous city. Peru is also full of tourists and Colombia is just as beautiful and yet far more diverse (Peru lacks anything remotely like Cartagena or the Caribbean coast). Peru when I went (2005) was far more dangerous for tourists than Colombia - every other bus on the coastal road down to Lima was being hijacked or crashing off the side of the road. Everyone I met who'd been to Colombia said it was their favourite country. It's a must see for anyone who visits the continent.

I compared because the person I was replying to had said that all of peru is dirty and all of colombia is clean. I just gave examples to the contrary.

Maybe peru was more dangerous then (although I think you are exaggerating given that I was living there and there were very few such incidents) but now colombia has taken that title! At least the sendero luminoso is pretty much eradicated in peru, while colombia still has plenty of farc terrorists. Plus they've had a lot of bus hijackings in the last month or so, while Peru hasn't had any for a few years.

Regardless of the argument, both countries are worth going to. I just argue for Peru because I am proud to have nationality and the country has been very kind to me, and I have never been to a nicer, more hospitable country in my life (and I have been to almost all of South America before you suggest otherwise )

I do recommend Ecuador though- it's lovely and yet it's off the tourist trail.

No worries amigo, although FARC is disintegrating at the moment and anywhere a tourist is likely to go is pretty much safe. Violence from paramilitary groups and drug traffickers are the biggest threat to Colombia's security. There's been sporadic violence related to Shining Path in Peru but nothing to worry a traveller.

Cajamarca was very pretty but I guess my problem is associating Peru with the hoards of British and Israeli tourists (of which, admittedly, I was one) whereas Colombia had an atmosphere of adventure the whole way through. But each to their own.