Yerba Mate

As I continue to provide snapshots of life here in Resistencia (often applicable to Argentina at large), yerba mate will take center stage for today's blog post.  Yerba mate, or most often simply "mate," is a traditional drink rooted in the Guaraní indigenous people's (natives of Northeast Argentina) history. At the end of the 16th century, it was introduced to Jesuit missionaries in Argentina who learned to cultivate it. After various sociopolitical periods of fluctuation in production, significant mate cultivation remains in Argentina, largely in the northeast province of Misiones.  Enough of the dry history lesson, huh?!, and on to why it's an important part of the culture in which I am living!
Mate is a loose leaf tea that is always drunk out of a gourd, also called a mate.  This is a typical mate on the left with a leather (or leather-like ouside and metal rim.

Although, a mate can also have a less typical form like the one here on the right.  This mate owned by one of my roommates is actually a bull's horn, hollowed out for the purpose of drinking mate. The tea is put into the mate and always settles at a slant (not really sure why this occurs but it does); then, a bit of hot water is poured into the crater-like portion of the tea leaves and the metal straw (called a bombilla) is inserted. The mate is ready to drink at this point and usually the owner of the mate (the cebador) will take the first sips as the tea is still very strong. These final steps of pouring a bit of water into the mate and then drinking it will be repeated over and over and over until the mate loses its flavor or the owner runs out of water. Thus, inevitably, if someone has a mate with them, they also likely are carrying a rather large thermos of hot water. However, the owner of the mate will certainly not be the only one to drink; one of the most important things about mate is that it is a communal drink/activity.  Friends will get together to sit and drink mate, colleagues might do so in the office, in the plaza, on a front step, on the bus to somewhere, in a courtyard during a break between university classes....well, you get the picture that Argentines drink mate just about anywhere.

A few other important mate etiquette facts:
-If you are offered mate by someone, you're "in." That is to say that they trust you and value your presence in the group setting wherever you are interacting.
-If you are offered mate, it is relatively rude to refuse it. Even if you don't especially like the tea, you should take a first sip then politely decline further offers.
-If offered mate, NEVER wipe off the bombilla before drinking (no matter how unsanitary you might think this practice of sharing is) as this is considered super, super rude.

There is also a cold form of mate called tereré. Essentially the same concepts guide the tea preparation but cold water is used in place of hot water, often for refreshment on days of especially hot weather. I have tried this cold mate made not only with water but also with a kind of lemon flavored water, other carbonated fruit juice, Sprite and....Coke (which, with the mate, created a rather interesting flavor...). I'm happy to say that I've had mate with several different people here since arriving and I definitely enjoy both the drink and the experience.  Soon enough I'm sure I will buy my own mate as I sort of miss being able to carry around a mug of coffee with me when I need refreshment and/or caffeine.

In other very exciting news, my classes begin MONDAY!! I'm clearly extremely anxious to meet students, sit in classes and be working with the program's professors.  This weekend held its share of adventures: Friday evening I attended church and hung out with some friends chatting about all kinds of Argentine and US foods, Saturday I hit up a garage sale, visited my fellow ETA in the nearby city of Corrientes and went to a super cheap indie concert in my neighborhood featuring Barro (check out their sound on their myspace page- awesome concert!). I also met for the first time at this concert a wonderful couple, Seba and Lorena, and their son, Yami, with whom I had been in touch through a previous Fulbright ETA. Sunday, Seba and Lorena invited me to an asado with their family in a local park, where we hung out for much of the afternoon, enjoying a live band's music and the dancing that inherently accompanies aforementioned music here in Argentina.  CLASSES TOMORROW!! EEeee....I feel like a kindergarten student again, so enthused about my first day of class. Yes, you are free to laugh at/with me. :)  Much love to all.