My drug of choice is caffiene. And I'll admit, I am not a casual user. It started with frappucinos, progressed to diet cokes and finally became an addiction when I not only started enjoying black coffee, but managed to get three jobs, all that offer free coffee, and one that even gives me a free pound every week for home. Taylor Maid knows how to keep employees. If your employees are addicts and you give them free drugs, I mean come on no wonder everyone's been there for years.
But anyways, today I bought a mate and bombilla, expanding my caffeine intake options. A big move for a coffee lover, because you can't, or shouldn't do both. A morning of mates and coffee is could quickly push one into a caffeine overdose, with anxiety, slurred rapid speech, and over excitement at small things. If you want to see someone ODing on caffiece, just go order something at Starbucks, the person who takes your order is trippin'.
But I digress. I am excited to be embracing the mate. Yes, it contains caffeine, but the consumption of mate has little in common with the consumption of coffee in the US. Similarly to the way coffee here is a social ritual, involving over an hour at a cafe and mandatory banter among friends or strangers, mate drinking is a social matter. They always warn you that once you start smoking pot or drinking alone, you clearly have a problem; and in that case Americans have a big giant addiction as we hide away in cubicles, bedrooms and cars, nursing 32oz black tar, ehem I mean, black coffee. Here, the mate is like a college freshmen bong, an excuse to sit down and talk, bullshit, argue and make friends. Except mate is legal, cheaper, better for you, and will leave your mind feeling clear and energized, not foggy, tired and confused. Freshmen year of college I smoked a lot of pot. Not because I love the feeling of being stoned, (a deep breath does much more for me than a bong rip) but because of the fun I had sitting in a circle in some dark dorm room talking, chatting, joking, listening to music and just enjoying company. I remember when I stopped smoking, I didn't miss the drug itself, but mostly the friends, conversations and such. Here, it's like people are lighting up bongs on the streets, but their offering mate. People walk around with their mate (the gourd) and just lit down and offer it to others; friends, strangers, storekeepers. If you ever want to make a friend, just bring your mate or find someone with mate and they will undoubtly be happy to share with you. Where is this ritual in the US??! Why don't we have some equivalent excuse to just sit down and enjoy company, share a little herb (lol) and some conversation. It seems like just a small thing, "oh gosh darn, I wish we had some tradition that allowed us to bullshit more", but honestly it's kind of a big deal! Sometimes chance meetings with acquaintances or other people you'd like to talk with but have no excuse (cute boys anyone?) can be so awkward. You either say "hey, uhhh good to see you!" or "like we should totally meet up" (with no intention on either end), or you have to be super courageous and make plans to do something, without knowing if the other person even wants to! Now mate solves all this. "Would you like to join me for some mate?" and you sit down for a few minutes wherever you are and chat. Other people can join in, and suddenly you've made friends, caught up with old friends, and basically had a really nice little interaction.
Now I'll shut up about how great mate is, but one other thing I think is important about this ritual is the sharing aspect. There's something really nice about offering a little of what you have to whomever wants some. It reminds me of the stories I heard in catachism (spelled wrong, but that wretched after church thing where the kids go to learn about Jesus) when Jesus would be in the desert and share his water or his hummus or whatever. Or it's kind of like how the girl who shares her gum in class always has a million friends, and also is generally a really nice person. Anyways, yay for mate and sharing.
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