Mate and Onward and Upward

When we first arrived and asked about Argentine customs, Paul said, "It would be impossible to overstate the importance of the drink 'mate' (mah-tay) in this culture." The drink is shared between friends and family, and the value and depth of social events is often gauged in thermoses of mate. The drink is a combination of leaves, steeped in boiling water (like tea) but drunk through a straw with a filter on the end. The host pours hot water into the special mate cup and takes the first sips, adjusting the heat and taste for the guests, then passes the cup to the first guest, who partakes and enjoys, then passes it back to the host, who refills it for the next guest. A true social ritual upon which friendships are defined and outsiders are underlined.

After hearing about this ritual, I told Paul that I would really like to taste mate before I left Argentina. So, he had a thermos waiting for us when we arrived this morning. What did I think of it? It tasted a bit like really strong tea, but mostly like weedy grass. As a matter of fact, it tasted a lot like the herbal remedy someone gave me for "cleansing" after I had kidney stones. I could tell that my stomach was going to hurt if I drank a whole lot of it! But, I imagine it would grow on you if you drank it with your closest friends. . . (or you would simply have a really clean system. .We rode TAM airlines to Florianapolis (affectionately called Floriana by locals. . . ) We had a change and short lay-over in Porto Alegre. In the waiting area, there were enormous glass windows giving view to an incredible sky line. People were all lined up with their fast food, just gazing out these windows. It reminded me of the study that Kim once mentioned: People can stand living in very small spaces, clustered closely together, as long as periodically they had a view of wide-open spaces. I believe that we were witnessing the longing for that wide-open breathing room. This is just a snippet of the large panorama. . .