Culture Post 1: Mate

So I had an amazing idea.  What if instead of writing "class was good today" over and over again, I write about parts of Argentine culture?  I think it's a good idea.

So let's do this. Episode 1: Mate

Mate and Bombilla

Mate (Mah-teh) is perhaps the most iconic drink of Argentina.  It's essentially like a tea. You put the leaves in a special cup (also called a mate) and add hot water. You drink out of it from a metal straw called a bombilla (bomb-ee-jah).  The bombilla has a filter at the bottom that keeps the leaves from coming up into your mouth. You pour the hot water (pouring/preparing it is called cebando) in and take the first sip.  Once there's no more water, you pour some more and offer it to your friends. Once they drink it and return it, you pour again and pass it to someone else, etc. Every so often, you need to add fresh leaves so that it doesn't taste bland. This goes on until everyone's had enough (you say "thank you" when you don't want any more) or until you run out of mate!

Friends drinking mate. One's sweet, and one's bitter.

You can drink your mate amargo (bitter) o con azúcar (with sugar).  You can also use fruit juice instead of hot water, but then it's not called mate anymore, but tereré.

Drinking mate is a favorite pastime of many Argentinian people. A lot of times, people will meet at the park, downtown, and other places just to sit down and enjoy some mate together. It's pretty great.  I enjoy it a lot. That's mate.

It's the modesty of who pours the best mate
It's the generosity of giving until the end
It's the hospitality of the invitation
It's the fairness of going one by one
It's the obligation to say "thank you"
At least once a day