We were welcomed to Uruguay with the taxi ride from hell. We arrived in Montevideo early morning after an overnight bus from Porto Alegre. Bleary-eyed, only half conscious, we piled into a cab. Soon we were wide-eyed and wide awake. The driver accelerated out of the cab rank as if he was a Ferrari F1 driver starting from the back of the grid. One hand on the horn, the other furiously changing gears. We swerved in and out of traffic. Every acceleration threw us back in the seat. He was spotting raccoons, picking gaps in traffic five moves ahead. At traffic lights he would aggressively wind down his window and yell abuse in Spanish at other drivers. He would then precede to drag race them on the green and swerve in front of them finger up in the rear-view-mirror.
It was a fast and furious introduction to a rather laidback and pleasant city. Montevideo was all blue-sky winter days. Perfect for strolling around old town - ciduad viajo. Mercado del Puerto - Montevideo’s Meat Market - was well worth the visit. Just don't rock up after 5pm on Saturday expecting dinner. The rusting roller-doors will be jammed shut.
Uruguayans eat a lot of bbq and drink a lot of tea. Everyone walks around with a thermos, a gourd (traditional leather clad cup) and a bombilla (metal straw). I had heard marijuana is now legal in Uruguay so at first I assumed everyone was smoking these weird local bongs! Country of stoners, I thought, Montevideo leaves Amsterdam for dead. I was wrong, it was just green tea. But not every day tea: Yerba Mate.
Yerba Mate is second only to water for liquid consumed in Uruguay. There are thermos filling stations on the sidewalks. Everyone was doing it man. So we decided we needed to do it as well. Before buying the gourd we tried the brew at a cafe. It's much like green tea, only more bitter and stronger. The tea concoction is leaves and stems and dust. The liquid is a soft greenish yellowish colour.
I had a head-cold at the time and the tea cleared me right out. It also gives a gentle caffeine alkaloid prod. It woke me up that morning so I bought all the gear with the idea that I'd be drinking it every morning for the rest of my trip. At the time I was ignorant to the fact that the stuff is pretty complicated to prepare. And you have to cure the gourd. Which we knew nothing about. We threw some mate in the fresh gourd, threw in the bombilla, topped up the concoction with steaming hot water and sucked away. We got mouthfuls of sandy grassy bitterness. Not so good.
You've got to prep it right. We learnt the hard way. It wasn't until I returned home, with time on my hands, that I mastered the art of Mate tea. So for those who care to learn I'll give a step by step guide here:
Preparing Yerba Mate
Australians can order all the Mate tea gear at 10 times the price in South America here:
http://www.yerbamateaustralia.com.au/
(The prices aren't so bad considering nearly everything in Australia is 10 times the price of stuff in South America.)
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| Palacio Salvo in the eye-catching Plaza Independencia |
It was a fast and furious introduction to a rather laidback and pleasant city. Montevideo was all blue-sky winter days. Perfect for strolling around old town - ciduad viajo. Mercado del Puerto - Montevideo’s Meat Market - was well worth the visit. Just don't rock up after 5pm on Saturday expecting dinner. The rusting roller-doors will be jammed shut.
 |
| Mercado del Puerto: the home of Montevideo BBQ |
Uruguayans eat a lot of bbq and drink a lot of tea. Everyone walks around with a thermos, a gourd (traditional leather clad cup) and a bombilla (metal straw). I had heard marijuana is now legal in Uruguay so at first I assumed everyone was smoking these weird local bongs! Country of stoners, I thought, Montevideo leaves Amsterdam for dead. I was wrong, it was just green tea. But not every day tea: Yerba Mate.
Yerba Mate is second only to water for liquid consumed in Uruguay. There are thermos filling stations on the sidewalks. Everyone was doing it man. So we decided we needed to do it as well. Before buying the gourd we tried the brew at a cafe. It's much like green tea, only more bitter and stronger. The tea concoction is leaves and stems and dust. The liquid is a soft greenish yellowish colour.
 |
| Mate gourd, thermos and soccer = Uruguay |
I had a head-cold at the time and the tea cleared me right out. It also gives a gentle caffeine alkaloid prod. It woke me up that morning so I bought all the gear with the idea that I'd be drinking it every morning for the rest of my trip. At the time I was ignorant to the fact that the stuff is pretty complicated to prepare. And you have to cure the gourd. Which we knew nothing about. We threw some mate in the fresh gourd, threw in the bombilla, topped up the concoction with steaming hot water and sucked away. We got mouthfuls of sandy grassy bitterness. Not so good.
You've got to prep it right. We learnt the hard way. It wasn't until I returned home, with time on my hands, that I mastered the art of Mate tea. So for those who care to learn I'll give a step by step guide here:
Preparing Yerba Mate
Australians can order all the Mate tea gear at 10 times the price in South America here:
http://www.yerbamateaustralia.com.au/
(The prices aren't so bad considering nearly everything in Australia is 10 times the price of stuff in South America.)
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