A Day at the Estancia Santa Susana - Buenos Aires Cruise Ship Shore Excursion

The dining room at Estancia Santa Susana near Buenos Aires had a cupboard filled with mate gourds made of everything from wood to ceramics to exquisitely carved silver. Being a big tea drinker, the mate ceremony was particularly interesting to me. Argentines of all ethnic groups and classes prepare and serve mate according to a ritual that goes back hundreds of years. A server (cebador) fills a gourd (mate) cup almost to the rim with chopped yerba mate leaves and then pours heated (but not boiling) water into the mate. Drinkers sip the hot liquid through a bombilla, a silver straw with a bulbous filter at the end that prevents the leaves from entering the straw. The mate cup is passed clockwise around the group of friends or family. Each participant drinks the entire cup before it is passed to the next person. Mate is very popular in Argentina, with an average of 5 kg per person per year consumed--over 4 times the amount of coffee. I thought this cultural treat was delightful!