Mate

Firstly a quick comment on Mate. Mate is a tradition in this area and taken up by both sexes. So many people walk around with an overgown pipe hanging out of their mouth and in the other hand they hold a thermos with hot water ready for the next helping. They don't, however, suck in smoke as a pipe smoker would, they suck down the smokey tasting mate which is a kind of herbal infusion.




With a ceremonious gesture, our hotel manager came to our table and offered us a suck on his mate straw. "This is a very big occassion", he said. It tasted like a bushfire - un incendio forestal.



Anyway, it seems to be quite addicitve. People can't seem to go without a suck at the straw like some smokers need to go outside for a fag every 30 minutes or so. The only time it seems to have been discouraged was by the Jesuts who thought that it distracted the Indians at Mass because they needed to go outside and wee. Who hasn't used that excuse in primary school during a boring class "Miss, I need to leave the room"