Mate de Coca: Afternoon Snack of Champions

In my last (Peru-related) blog post I mentioned grabbing a coca leaf tea after Mass. I figured I should talk more about the legendary Mate de Coca.

This herbal infusion is the cure-all of choice in the Andes. Though a great many effects are attributed to it, to be honest with you, I haven’t noticed anything.

It hasn’t had any real impact on my altitude-related symptoms, which thankfully have been few*. It doesn’t give me energy like caffeine would. It very obviously doesn’t get you high — I feel more whacked out after a second cup of coffee.

But I keep drinking it, all the same. It’s a good excuse to stop and have an afternoon break in a cafe. It’s culturally apropos — why have green tea or cocoa in frakking Peru???? It’s warm, which is helpful after a frigid night and equally cold shower in Hoth, AKA the bare bones hole in the wall hostel I’m staying in.

And I have to admit there’s also the rebellious aspect of consuming this harmless plant that is so thoroughly verboten in the US that our government is willing to violate the most basic notions of national sovereignty in order to destroy the crop on another continent.

And on that note, I think I’m going to go find myself another cup of nice hot mate de coca…

* Just a little shortness of breath (mostly after dashing up one of the stairways that passes for a “road” in Cusco) and the occasional headache, which are both par for the course at 11,000 feet.