Matelandia

A blog post by Adam. Mate is a plant that makes a bitter and somewhat potent tea. I had tried it once or twice in the U.S. and knew it was from South America. Nothing, however, would prepare me for mate Uruguayan-style. Despite the fact that Uruguay is the first nation in the world to legalize marijuana, the only pot we saw while visiting was the little mate pot (accompanied of course by a thermos of hot water and a bombillo, a metal straw for sipping from the little pot).

On our first day in Montevideo, Urugauy's capital and biggest city, we headed out to a crafts market and walk along the River de la Plata. The crafts market was bustling and the river walk was beautiful, but what most shocked us was the mate. Everyone, I mean everyone, was walking with their thermos and mate. Uruguayans were drinking mate like most humans breathe oxegyn....it was that out of control. Unfortunately, the proof is stored on a computer now in the U.S. Check back in a month for photos of Uruaguayans sucking mate down like there's no tomorrow, as well as a bonus pic of a man with his mate holster (you gotta see it to believe it).

The next day we too gathered around to test it out. And you know what? According to those with Halpern and Weiner genes, it was pretty nasty. It was bitter and hot, although using the metal straw was kind of fun. For some reason, both Melissa and Jorge liked it. For the sake of the rest of us, we eventually had to add some sugar, which helped. Still, it didn't taste like a Dominican shake. How we long for our tropical fruit smoothies...