Buenos Aires to Rio Gallegos

Three things come to my mind when thinking about Rio Gallegos: smoke, old western, closet

Smoke – practically everyone in Argentina smokes. I am not a smoker and have never been fond of the smell and so being down here and being surrounded by smoke has taken some getting used to. Seriously, there is cigarette smoke being blown in your direction everywhere you go.

Old Western - Rio Gallegos has the feeling of an old western town. You know those old western films your parents watch, yeah that’s pretty much what this town looks and feels like. It has one main street that stretches the length of the town and old run down building surrounding. It is dry and dusty similar to Nevada and there is constant wind. We were there in the peak of their summer and we were in pants, jackets, socks, shoes, and hats. It was freezing!

 Closet – When you’re traveling on a budget you don’t really care where you end up sleeping as long as you have a roof over your head. We stayed with a guy named Daniel, who runs an internet café and radio station and lives in the back of it. He was nice enough to offer us a place to stay and we ended up sleeping in a closet type room next to his music studio. The floor was just wide enough to fit our two mummy air pads and sleeping bags. It has been our most unique sleeping arrangement yet.

Yep, this is were we slept. Mike and I were wedged between the wall and that huge gray dresser thingy. It was a tights  nights sleep to say the least :)

Buenos Aires and Uruguay are known for Mate (pronounced: mah-tae). Everyone you see has a thermose in one hand and their mate in the other; while they are biking, on buses, subway, walking, etc... Mate is everywhere and everyone is drinking it.

The Mate cup is made from calabaza which is dried squash, and the herb kinda looks like dried oregano or basil. 

How you make and drink mate the proper way:

• 1.       Put your bombilla in your mate cup, yes you have a cup just for mate; a bombilla is a metal straw that has a filter on the bottom of it which permits the calabaza from entering your mouth

• 2     You pour the calabza in your “mate cup”

• 3.       Add sugar if you want; without sugar it is very bitter which many prefer

• 4.       Add hot water

• 5.       Drink until you hear a gurgling sound at the bottom letting you know that more water needs to be added

• 6.       Do not touch your bombilla (straw) when drinking

• 7.       Do not stir your mate

8.       Mate is a tradition in which you sit around talk and drink. Usually multiple people will all share the same cup, once you are done drinking you will pass your cup to the host they will add water and pass it to the next person. The cup gets passed around the circle multiple times. Mate is drunk all day long.

Mike and I experience our first Mate while walking through the streets of San Telmo. We were offered some mate by a guy on the street selling mate cups and so we and another passer by shared our first cup of mate together. Argentines are very friendly and will share with anyone.