Mate

Mate is definitely a cultural distinction of Argentina. I can't remember if I have explained it before, but it is basically like loose tea that you fill a hollowed our gourd with. Then you pour really hot water into it from a thermos, of which only about a quarter cup of water fits in the vessel at a time. You drink the mate out of a metal straw. Once you have sucked it dry, then you pass it back to your host. They refill it with water and pass it to the next person. This repeats again and again until all the hot water is gone.

Boy is the water hot!!! Because it is kinda a cultural necesity to share mate when offered, I always feel obligated to drink it. But the water is just sooooo freakin hot sometimes. Whenever I make it, I make sure to combine the boiling water with some room temp water to cool it down a bit. Not everyone plays nice though.

Tonight, I burned my mouth worse than I ever have. I mean, I've eaten hot foods before, sipped on hot coco or coffee a little too early and gave my tongue a run for it's money. However, I can honestly say that I burnt the roof of my mouth. How might I be so sure? I literally have a huge blister on the roof of my mouth!!! I thought I just had something caught up there... but I hadn't eaten any leafy anything or, well, anything that felt similar to the sensation my tongue kept prodding. Armed with my headlamp and mirror, I was able to confirm that yes, that was my own skin. Gross.

During dinner (which started at almost 11pm), it popped and I was able to fish the excess skin from my mouth. Yum. I was really too tired to care though. We JUST got back at 1:30am from DINNER. Oye. (I wrote the rest of this email before we left.) To say I'm sleepy is an understatement. Pues, buenas noches!