Panchos and Ponchos

Two recent grads

We have been traveling a lot lately . . . In the past two weeks I have given 9 presentations, and this weekend we are headed for Cordoba for the last roundup of intra-Argentina travel. Luckily, we were able to squeeze in a couple personal days while we were in the Northwest. Our trip there started in Tucuman, moved to Salta, on to Jujuy, and back to Salta where we caught our flight back to BsAs.

Soon we will post about our impressions of Salta and Jujuy, but for now I'll tell you a bit about Tucuman. First of all, it is not a tourist destination . . . the city is bustling and loud! It was student week while we were there . . . and graduates were celebrating from the backs of honking trucks and hatchback cars. No one can go very fast as there is quite a lot of traffic . . . I don't know why as it feels like a small city. But the streets are very congested. People don't seem to mind waiting; they stay friendly and enjoy honking . . . which calls the local strays from their siesta stupor. When the traffic lights change and the vehicles zip to the next stoplight (especially the ones with students playing loud thumping music) , the dogs run disturbingly close to the wheels, chasing the cars as far as they can, barking and yelping wildly!

Interview at the Ministry

The city plaza was quite busy as well. Tucuman and the northern area is home to Musia Folclorica which is famous throughout Argentina. Mercedes Sosa, in fact, was born in Tucuman (Phyllis, the picture of me with Mercedes in the photo album is for you!). In the evening, we were able to watch an outdoor variety show put on by local students. They were quite talented . . . I should have taken a video. I guess the photos will have to do.

The work part of the trip went well - big enthusiastic audiences. Believe it or not a meeting with the Minister of Education was arranged at the Government Building, I met the Governor of Tucuman, and I had my first ever "live" television interview . . . in Spanish! I felt like I was in some kind of Spanish class role play . . . "OK, you pretend that you are being inteviewed on TV and this guy will act as the TV reporter . . . " It was actually kind of fun!

Pancheria - site of the hot dog with lots of condiments

The food was great in Tucuman: we had the most flavorful locro (stew) we have eaten so far. We also noticed that people overall were quite a bit heavier then in BsAs. A friend told us that it was due to the fact that the cost of meat had gone up, and that the typical diet was becoming more dependent on cheaper foods (carbs). It made sense. As for fruit . . . it was strawberry season! I have never seen such piles of giant ripe red strawberries . . . and so cheap - 6.5 pounds for around $2.50 USD!! Those photos (in our album) are for my Mom!! Tucuman also grows lemons, oranges, and sugar cane. Lastly, we saw the most elaborate Pancho cafes we have ever seen. What is a Pancho or a Super Pancho? Well... that's what they call hot dogs here. Ahhhh, but these are not ordinary hot dogs as you can put as many topppings as will fit in the bun. Young and old take part in trying to fit in as much as they can . . . see the video in our photo album for the reason why we decided not to try the pancho!

However, I did buy a poncho. But that's something you wear made from llama wool. Speaking of crafts, our next destination was the land of indigenous crafts, pan flutes, and mummies . . . more to come!

Gimme my Mate!

Yerba mate and hot water
in a mate with a bombilla
(picture from wikipedia)

So we've been to the land of beer, Santa Fe (NE), and more recently I did a whirlwind trip to San Juan (NW), which is known as the land of wine . . . but all over Argentina and even Uruguay is the land of Mate (pronounced MAH-tay)!! I have never seen a culture so addicted to? obsessed with? tea - it's incredible! No, we're not even talking "coca tea" or anything like that . . . mate is like a normal crushed tea leaf tea called 'yerba mate'. So, I can't figure out if the obsession is with the tea itself or the elaborate ritual of drinking it that involves a goard like receptacle, called a mate, a nickel-silver straw with a spoon-like strainer at the end, called a bombilla, a thermos full of hot water, and, of course, the mate leaves themselves. Oh, and I almost forgot that it is an incredibly social procedure which involves passing the mate around so that everyone can have a sip . . . yes drinking from the same straw. I kind of relate it to the kissing . . . an affectionate-physical-social-sharing kind of thing.

OK, about this process . . . I had a fantastic Spanish tutor for a few weeks named Veronica. Each time she came to the apartment for my lesson she would bring an interesting exercise for me to do. The first day, we started with a political cartoon. Then, she moved on to teach me how to write excuses via email, she taught me about "la fiaca" which I'll get into in another posting, and then we embarked on an ordering activity in which I was to read the steps of how to make mate and put them in order. Wow, I had  never considered that there were certain "steps" to drinking mate. No doubt I had seen mate drinkers passing the gourd at break time on the stoops of building entrances, in parks reading books and watching concerts, in guard stations monitoring surveillance cameras, in the audience of my workshops, in airports at the baggage claim, and Veronica told me she once saw a man riding a bicycle simultaneously sipping, steering, and holding the thermos under his arm. Even street people invest in modern thermoses to keep their water nice and hot. Where they get the hot water I'm not sure.

For you Spanish speakers, here's the activity Vero (Veronica) gave me:
Instrucciones para preparar mate
Ordená esta instrucciones:
a. agregar azúcar, cáscaras de limón o naranja u otras yerbas aromáticas
b. llenar 3/4 del mate con yerba
c. clalentar el agua peron no dejes que hierva
d. pensar "¡qué rico!/qué horrible!" y seguir tomando/no tomar nunca más en la vida
e. poner la bombilla
f. poner la pava* con agua en el fuego
g. tapar el mate con la mano y sacurdirlo para sacarle el polvo a la yerba
h. tirar el agua caliente cerca de la bombilla
i. tomar el mate hasta escuchar un ruiditio

1__   2__  3__  4__  5__  6__  7__  8__  9__

Suerte! Answers will be supplied soon!  Lastly, Vero also gave me a link to a video of a woman explaining specifically how she likes to prepare and drink mate. Such a ritual . . . Disfrutálo!

EL DISFRUTE - Consejos como preparar un buen mate por Karla Johan Lorenzo