Mate and summer!

I went to a mate class the other night. I didn't know It was such a ceremony. I'll share a little about it...

First off, when we were at Los termas yesterday (a hot springs water park made from stones) everyone had their mate kits which consist of a thermos, a gourd, a bombilla, loose Yerba mate and sugar all in a travel case... Some of which are pretty baller looking. It's just part if what they bring on their picnics, or mid day break. Mate everywhere!!

So, whoever carries the case makes a mate the way they like it, then they drink a whole gourd full, then the add a little more Yerba, water, sugar(if desired) and pass it to the person on the right, when they have finished, they pass it back to the head person and they refill and repeat until everyone has had their fill. It's a special event for people and if someone invites you to their home to have mate, it means they think very highly of you.

The mate section at the grocery store is SICK! There's like 20 different kinds to choose from.

So as we were at Los termas, we were looking around at all the suckers getting sunburned, which was 90% of people as Argentinians have fair skin. We didn't notice how burnt we were til we got back to the hostel...oops. Feeling better today thanks to Julie's Singing Spring Botanicals first aide salve. (Great stuff!)

Well, off to find some lunch before everyone goes for siesta and the entire town shuts down for 3 hours!