From wine country I headed east to Córdoba. Not because Córdoba was particularly part of my plan, but turns out it's the easiest place to fly to El Calafate from. So I decide to stay here for a day (it was actually two as the overnight bus from Mendoza dropped me off at 7am) to explore the city. I was there on Argentinian Independence Day. So most things were closed! Luckily the Starbucks wasn't one of those, although I did have to wait outside for 15 minutes for them to open.

After my caffiene fix I started wandering. The aim was San Martin square. However I got a little distracted along the way. First by a park of giant circes.

Each circe had a date engraved into it. The odest date I saw 1883, so there must have been a fair few circles!

Across the street fromPlaza del Bicentenario (the officia name for Circle Park) was a giant spiraling needle.

This is Faro delBicentenario. Next to it was a very interesting building where it was possible to walk on the roof. At first I thought it was a skate park. Although the signs said skate boarding (or riding anything with wheels) was strictly prohibited!

From here I did manage to walk to San Martin square without any further distractions. When I arrived there I found the catherdal covered in Argentinian flags.

So was most of the square come to think about it. There were two teenage boys hanging up individual fags on the railings around the park. All with hand written text on them. This is how I came to find out that Argentina was actually celebrating their 200th year of independence....!