Mom keeps saying I should write about the customs and traditions of Uruguay so here I go.
Uruguayan Customs Part 1: Drinking Mate
In every city I have lived in, I've learned something. In Havana for example, I learned that one needs to have clean empty nylon bags in their purses all times, in case they spot a market that has fresh ginger—or good pork chops, eggs, cheese or anything that is found rarely there — and need to buy it right there. Most markets did not have nylon bags back when I lived there, and after a couple of months I became accustomed to carry them in my purse for emergencies. It’s funny; I still carry them in my purse, today, far far away from the eccentric streets of la Habana!
Saying that, today, also known as the day why I love living in Uruguay, I benefited from this corky habit I created years ago. I found out today that, here too, plastics bags could be useful. This morning, almost after 2 years in this town, I prepared myself mate for the first time, and left my house, walked around with it, like a “local” in the streets of Montevideo! When it was time to discard the used mate leaves and stick the mate in my purse, my old habit came so handy, I congratulated myself.
Funny I have not talked about this common habit in my new hometown before. The first time I tasted mate, was at the office and after a little sip I thought I was going to puke, it was incredibly bitter. I am a coffee person—a Cuban coffee person—and sipping hot water through bitter leaves in the morning was not a great way of waking up, so I passed the second time Mauro offered me their national drink. Over the last couple of months, out of curiosity (he told me that it was a habit that one created overtime by drinking it, and that it was addictive!) I tried it here and there, and recently I even bought myself a mate and a thermos, in case an Uruguayan visitor would want to have it, instead of all the other drinks I already have at home.
If there is one custom in Uruguay, that is drinking mate. Even the worst observer will pick up on that. I would say 7 out of 10 people walk around in Montevideo, with a thermos under one arm and mate on their hand. You can spot them everywhere: school, office, movies, shopping mall, museum, you name it. I used to think they had a gap between their armpit, one can only be that comfortable walking miles with a thermos if that was the case!
Introduced to European colonizers by the Guarani Indians, Yerba Mate is a said to be medicinal, but more often it is a cultural drink. Mate contains something like caffeine, which keeps its drinkers energetic, and kills your appetite. There are many different kinds, some bitterer than other, but basically it tastes like green tea, without sugar. My co-workers favor the strongest kinds, I cannot even come close to it; so far only had one kind that was a calmant, I ended up sleeping really really early after sipping it for a while.
The drill to drink mate starts by pouring yerba (the dried leaves) into the mate (that is the cup, made out of dried little green pumpkin, about the size of an orange, which is only found here in South America); but this only is a ritual by itself because you cannot just leave the herb on the bottom, it has to be packed into one side leaving an air pocket for water; then holding the upper tip of the bombilla (a metal straw with a colander at the bottom end so that the drinker does not inhale the leaves) so that it enters the neatly packed mate air-tight, then they poor a little bit of cold water and "wet" the herb, and finally you start drinking by pouring hot water from the thermos into the mate, one person at a time. You cannot share the mate; everyone has to wait his or her turn. If by mistake you drank it before your turn, you kiss the mate and then pass it on. It is not a simple drink, let me tell ya... And I know very little about this weird drink, so go figure.
Drinking mate is seen in Argentina, Paraguay and even southern Brazil, but in Uruguay it is a phenomena. There are tons of different mates those who are covered with cloth, metal, or leather, even horse foot (it is obscene); every store sells thermos and bombillas. Then there are the materos, handmade mate bags, usually made out of leather, where one can put a thermos and mate standing-up. One wonders how come they have hot water all the time, that is the best kept secret: one can buy hot water in many places including in gas stations, where there are machines, like the snack vendors, you put your money and fill your thermos.
I started to guess what kind of political or social ideas Uruguayans support by looking at their mates and materos. The lefties usually decorate their thermos or materos with political stickers, where the chetos (bourgeois) rock the plain ones and have more elaborate bombillas and mates.
Of course there are exceptions, and I am at the beginning of my learning experience, so I may be wrong.
PS: I am going to make a whole new article on fanny packs because it is another phenomenan itself. You may see people decked out, and then you spot a fanny pack on them! Hard to get over.
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