Ah, yerba mate. I remember learning about this drink in Seniorita's Spanish class back in high school and thinking, "One day, I want to actually go to Argentina and try this" and now I drink it nearly every day with my family. Mate is like a very herby-tasting tea, drunk from a small gourd and a metal straw or bombilla. It is passed around in a circle of friends/family and after one finishes the gourd, it is passed back to the brewer. The brewer then fills it up with more hot water and the gourd is passed to the next person. When someone no longer wants to drink any more mate, they just say "gracias" to the brewer which signifies that they don't want any more.
Drinking mate is such a social thing- people drink it while studying, watching television, in the car, at work, in the park, literally anywhere and everywhere. It is very common for people to carry around their gourd and a thermos of hot water and refill their mate gourd as they please. My Mother and I drank mate together the other day while watching a movie/ talking and that's when she explained to me the etiquette of drinking mate. She told me if someone comes over and there is not a lot of food in the house, there is always mate to share with others. She promised to show me how to prepare it before I leave so I will bring some home to MN! It isn't really sweet but if you like tea, you get used to the herby taste, I really like it!
Today:
I cannot believe I have 3 full days left in Buenos Aires...I leave Friday night around 8:30 p.m. and I am sure I will be running around/packing on Friday before I take off for the airport. Anyway, today I went to Tigre with my host parents and my mother's nephew for the day. I actually went there in the beginning of the program with some friends but it was nice to get out of Buenos Aires for the day- we had a long lunch near the river and walked around the markets for awhile. At lunch, I almost screamed because I noticed a cockroach on the table right after we were served our food. I absolutely DETEST those bugs and as soon as I saw it, I jumped out of my chair and my parents asked me what was wrong. I could barely speak, I just pointed to the table and said, "CUCARACHA!" Their faces immediately changed and they started looking for it on the table. I refused to sit down until it was out of site, so Ignacio took care of it. AH, they are so nasty!
Tomorrow is the soccer game....Go Argentina!!!!
Ohh really good post, i want to taste the mate too ! i'm doing a buenos aires travel in a few a weeks, i can't wait to be there, i was told they had amazing parks (i've only seen the pictures and they look really good already) and that there is a great big zoo, have done any of those things ?
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