mendoza was a sleepy town. i thought it was one of the larger cities but it's population is actually just a little over a hundred thousand. i didn't go to a winery, and i'm not particularly upset by that. i did purchase local wine, but i dropped the bottle when it was a third of the way full. the town was just a place you could relax for a few days and do some outdoorsy stuff. reminded me of denver in that way. like a smaller denver. i did go hiking, which was fun. there were cows or horses grazing along steep faces. i kept throwing rocks down, listening for the tumbling sounds. like skipping stones, but more of an aural than visual experience

valparaiso was more interesting. it's like three times the population of mendoza. more colorful too, since it's a coastal place instead of a desert one. there was just more to do without having to spend money to do it. there were some sand dunes forty minutes away by bus. saw the sunset over them. i guess i've been to both the atlantic and the pacific while here. uruguay. chile. i don't even feel like i have to do any more traveling. maybe iguazu. maybe noa. but, right now, i'm not feeling compelled to seek out more trips. that's still subject to change

also realized argentina was the better choice, financially speaking, for me over chile. prices for things in chile weren't expensive (on par with a major us city) but i noticed the difference between the two almost instantly. a cappuccino-like coffee and two croissants in argentina is half the price of a regular brewed coffee in chile. bus rides are fifty cents versus a little over a dollar. adds up over a few months, especially since i have no real income

there's a fake raven hanging over the courtyard in my building. i assume it's there to scare away pigeons. the wire holding it is thin, and under certain lighting, it's almost invisible. making the bird appear as though it's floating in a perched position. the swaying gives it away