Uruguay y Maté

Maté, pronounced "mah-tay," is an herbal tea service. I'm not surprised if you've heard of it, or even drank it, as I'm sure Tom Cruise or Sean Penn or Brangelina popularized it at some point in their never-ending quests for happiness and their general affection for introducing something into American culture whereupon it immediately becomes "hippie crap." Like slack-lining. Or self-worship.

However, here in Uruguay, maté is actually something. Something great. I don't want to say its "a way of life," but more of a "life-support system" without which the citizens would certainly shrivel up and cease to exist. Though it's also traditionally enjoyed all over Argentina, Paraguay and southern Brazil, here in Uruguay it's a ubiquitous, all-day affair. And rightly so, considering they pride themselves in enhancing the system with the use of a thermos. Which, of course, "liberated the maté from the home." That's right, here in Uruguay, its all about equality.

So, you have your maté (a hollow, cured gourd) usually a small pumpkin roughly the size of a coffee cup. You fill it about 3/4 full with yerba (an herbal tea mixture pronounced "shaer-ba.") You've got a bombilla (a metal straw with a filter on the end) which you stick in the dry yerba. Add some cold water and the yerba will expand so the gourd is mostly filled with yerba and your bombilla is stable and secured... think fence post. Now, you add hot water from your thermos and drink. Usually you can only get about a 1/5 cup of water in there, so just a few sips and you're adding more water. This must be drunk all day in every circumstance so one must pack a thermos of hot water everywhere.

The most common way of thermos-transport is under the drinker's non-dominant arm with the maté in the non-dominant hand. I'd say about 50% of the people are walking around with a chicken arm, thermos tucked in the wing and their lips wrapped around the bombilla. Having the dominant arm free allows them to do just about anything else whilst enjoying yerba maté. Standing on the bus? No problem. Breast feeding? No problem. Riding your motorcycle with your dog on the gas tank? Again, no problem... dominant arm operating the vehicle, thighs clutching perrito, mouth suckin' away and the thermos at the elbow you've got yourself a typical Uruguayan. This person even waves leisurely to friends at 40mph with the dominant hand. Go ahead Sean Penn, give it a try. Please.

However, the real beauty comes in the social aspect of it. It's meant to be shared and there are some serious customs when it comes to this. I won't go into them here but basically if you're talking with a Uruguayan, you're gonna be getting some yerba maté... and it'll keep coming so long as you don't say, "gracias."