New Obsessions of South America

Our first post about obsessions was a popular one. Unfortunately for that topic, we spent a long time in Brazil, so we had no new countries to post about. Now we have some new countries again, so here we go.

French Guyana: Not doing anything. French Guyana is technically a part of France, so this one makes sense. Many people in French Guyana don't actually have jobs and are supported by the French government. But, even those that do don't work much. Despite being a popular place for French tourists, all the tourism places close for August vacation. Most of the places in our guidebook had gone out of business. Maybe because they only open for two hours per day. In short, don't expect anywhere to be open or anyone to be willing to help you in French Guyana unless they are foreigners.

Paraguay: Mate tea. The easiest one yet. It is impossible for any American to understand the depth of this obsession without visiting. Every store sells cups to drink, straws, and thermoses for this nasty tea that they drink ice cold. About 50% of people carry around these huge 2 gallon thermoses to keep ice water on hand. Booths line the streets to sell you additives for your tea, huge blocks of ice for your tea water, or to sell you a pitcher of tea. I still can't completely grasp how this tea could be so important. We saw a man in the grocery store stocking shelves with one hand and hugging his thermos with the other.

Uruguay: Cow Products. If it is from a cow, they love it. Beef with every meal, leather stores everywhere, and dulce de leche is the most common flavor. This obsession was a good one. I love beef and dulche de leche (like caramel for those who have never had it). I ate a dulche de leche pie for breakfast one morning (well, I gave Tara a bit). Yum.