Monday, October 23, 2017

Today was our food tour day.  We met Mariana, our 25 year-old guide, in the lobby of our hotel. She works for craft beer company, working with the brew master when she is not acting as a guide. She had set up a mate brewing station as that would be our first lesion and taste.

Mate

Mate (pronounced MAH-tay) is in your face aggressive when you first drink it, that’s how strong it is. But in BA, everyone, EVERYONE drinks it all the time.  They drink it on the street. They drink it in the subway. They drink it on the bus. They walk around everywhere carrying their thermos and other mate paraphernalia. And they share it with all their friends, so it is also a very social drink.