It's in the eye of the beholder

Valparaiso was recommended to us as a must see.  What we found was a frenetic port city with crumbling buildings and sidewalks and  crowded with people.  We arrived just as they were having a stunt bike event complete with American product advertisers, large TV screen and cheering fans.  We had trouble navigating the narrow winding streets because of it.  Valparaiso is famous for it's wall art adorning buildings and walls throughout the city.  There are steep stairs and cerros that make aerobic exercise a constant.  We took a walking tour as recommended by our tour guide in Santiago.  To avoid the steep ascents of countless stairs, the city has funiculas or antique elevators.   Our tour guide cautioned us repeatedly about sections of the city not to visit due to a rise in thefts, especially of tourists.   After the tour, we made plans to take a short bus ride to the neighboring seaside town of Vina del Mar.  It was rumored that a major annual music festival was taking place there on the same weekend with multiple American artists having previously performed there.
We found Vina del Mar more upscale, cleaner and not as chaotic.  We enjoyed walking along the boardwalk that outlined the beaches.  There were a myriad of activities on the beachfront, including preparations for various musical performers, news crews, recreational activities.  We joined a Zumba line on the beach before eating a wonderful meal and then returning to Valparaiso and our hostel.

Our next stop of Mendoza was not originally on our list of destinations.  It is best known for it's wine vineyards and since we don't drink, we thought we would bypass it.  It is also well known among trekkers, climbers and mountaineers as Acacongua is the tallest mountain outside the Himalayas, which was an attractive lure but clearly not a logical one given our lack of time needed to make such an ascent including the acclimatization preparation needed for such a trek, not to mention the physical stamina needed.      The reason we ended up back in the middle of Argentina was to fly to Buenos Aires and then on to Iguazu Falls in northeastern Argentina.   As we learned,  flights between countries can only occur between major cities/capitals, unless you can afford the very hefty price tag.

Mendoza is a pleasant location, which attracts countless tourists every year.  We also happened to arrive just at the start of the Fiesta Nacional de la Vendimia (wine harvest festival) so festivities were already underway.  We did manage to check out local parks and museums and eat some delicious grapes during our brief stopover there.  We were impressed with Aerolineas Argentinas, the major airlines for all of Argentina.  The seats were spacious and comfortable; the staff friendly and helpful and they served a wide cadre of snacks.  In addition, security checks were only interested in Gilly's can of fuel for our camp stove, which had been stored for the entire trip thus far in his backpack.  The officials discarded this with apologies.  We switched planes in Buenos Aires as there were no direct flights from Mendoza to Iguazu Falls, again unless you wanted to shell out major pesos.