Tomando Mate

The past couple of weeks have been pleasant but busy here in Argentina. I am getting steadily more absorbed in my placement at the Mission, where I´ve started some yoga and recorder (the musical instrument) workshops. We enjoyed a visit from our program coordinator and also another ELCA pastor last week, and had fun teaching our guest how to make empanadas! Then on Monday our "host family" invited us to an asado (backyard barbeque, roughly) of lamb to celebrate a long weekend. For the record, lambs are adorable, and also delicious. Also for the record, mid-day asados have the advantage over evening asados of giving the body longer to recover before the next day of work.

And I have been tomando a lot of mate.

Tomando mate [pronounced mah-tay], or "taking mate," is a cultural practice to which I was first introduced by former YAGM volunteers in April. It refers literarly to drinking a semi-bitter herbal infusion of crushed yerba mate leaves in hot water. But this beverage and its associated accesories and practices permeate life here in the Chaco (and throughout many parts of South America). One takes mate by putting the loose, crushed leaves in a mate gourd, pouring hot water (about 2 ounces at a time) over the leaves, and using a bombilla, or a metal straw with a strainer on the end to separate the water from the leaves, to drink the beverage. Few Argentines like tomando mate alone, however. This is an intensely social activity, and one person holds the thermos, pours new water into the gourd and passes it to each person in turn.



When we arrived in Resistencia last month, the first thing we did was tomar mate in the back of the pastor´s van, while transporting ourselves and luggage to our new apartment! Since then, I have taken mate in our apartment, in the church, in the after-school program, on front porches, in plazas, in our back yard, and with the hairstylist in the salon where we got our hair cut today! That we do drink mate is usually established within the first few minutes of any introductory conversation here, a question right up there with "Where are you from?", "How long will you be here?", and "Do you like the Chaco?" (Which, of course, we do.)

While mate has not yet replaced coffee in my life, it is here the preferred morning stimulating beverage. Children as young as 18 months old begin sipping from their parents´mates, although most people under the age of 15 prefer a gag-inducing amount of sugar with theirs. This baffled me--when I share mate with the kids at the mission, my stomach revolts at the amount of sugar trying to infiltrate. But then I remembered my introductory attempts at coffee, my junior high days of crunchy coffee, before I learned to appreciate the bitter glory of the bean itself! Very similar.

One thing I do not do much is drink mate alone. While some people do have their equipment at hand at all times (like my coffee mug in the U.S.), it is also the base of many a social gathering. Many conversations begin, "Let´s meet up in the plaza and tomar mate." Those who hold onto the gourd after completing their serving will hear jovial teasing, "It´s a mate, not a microphone!" When we walk up and down the streets of Resistencia, and see families, friends, and courting couples drinking mate in peace on every corner of the city, I feel that at least something is right in the world.


Last week on Friday, I had the honor of tomando mate at a political rally in which (strictly adhering to ELCA policy) we did not participate, but observed. Throughout this peaceful request that the government of the Chaco fulfill electoral promises and enforce the existing laws, people celebrated solidarity in uplifting the rights of all. As we navigated the edges of the crowd, taking both pictures and mate, we ran quick bit of mate to the pastor helping lead one of the participating associations. This was a powerful moment for me: accompaniment is not about trying to exert political influence or expressing the "right" political opinions or scoring "political rally points" to bring up in conversations for the rest of my life, but spending time with people, in communities, and drinking a lot of mate.