SHARING MATE'

On a recent all-day trip from El Calafate to El Chalten, which is where Mt. Fitz Roy is, I had the opportunity to drink mate’.  (I don’t know how to make the accent appear over the “e” on the computer.)

Our guide first pulls out a small bottle of Calafate berry liquor and pours all of us shots.  Sweet, a little syrupy, but definitely tasty.  Would be good in a margarita or a pisco sour.  After the shot he starts drinking mate’, so I ask him about it.

They typically drink mate’ after eating, as it’s good for digestion.  But, some just seem to drink it all the time, as I see people walking around with thermos’ under their arm.  They put the dried/chopped/ground tea leaves in a gourd looking thing, about the size of a coffee cup.  The leaves are steeped in hot water and they sip it through a silver straw, which has little holes at the bottom to help strain the tea.  They drink a little, then add more water, then drink a little, then add more water, and that can go on for a long time. 

Even though you see people with their own mate’ gourd, it can be a social, sharing type of drink.  The guide explains to me that in somebody’s house, after dinner, they’ll bring out the mate’ and pass it around.  So, we did this on the bus - he’d drink a little, add water, then pass it to the next person.  The 2nd person would drink a little, through the same silver straw, give it back to him and he’d add more water.  The 3rd person would drink a little, and so on.

So, talk about sharing spit with your friends.  I shared spit with about 3 strangers for maybe an hour on the ride back.