Mate tableaux

• On Thursday night, Buenos Aires held a noche de las librerías, where the booksellers row section of Avenida Corrientes was closed to car traffic. Debates and readings were held in the shops that line the street. I went to none of the debates or readings. I did, however, see a man on stilts drinking mate.

• Yesterday, at the "dollar store" a few doors from my apartment, I noticed a basket sitting by the cash register. It was clearly reserved for impulse-buy items, where you might see gum or candy in the States. Here, the basket was filled with the metal straws with which you drink mate.