All photos \u00a9 Bente Steffensen og Uffe Damm Andersen, unless otherwise stated.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
It had gotten dark when we parked behind the red four-wheel drive at the bridge over Rio La Caldera<\/em> outside the small town of Vaqueros<\/em> in Northwest Argentina<\/em>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n We had just sat down\nin the back seat of the car and said hello to Giselle<\/em> and Facundo<\/em> when\nwe were offered mate. It was with a little scepticism that we tasted the most important\nstimulant of the Argentinians for the first time – mate<\/em>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n And why were we\nsitting in a car in the dark an evening in early May and drink mate?<\/p>\n\n\n\n It’s probably a bit much to say that we drank mate, it was only a single sip before we handed the mate back and said “gracias”<\/em>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n At that time we were not quite ready for the drink, which for a beginner is most reminiscent of a very bitter tea with a hint of smoke from an extinguished bonfire<\/em>. But if you are offered mate by an Argentinean, then you know you have a friend. And that’s exactly what we had been given, and now we were owl watching in Northwest Argentina \u2013 or owling<\/em> as it is also called. You can read or re-read how we got to know them in How eBird and Three Unidentified Birds Made Us New Friends<\/a>. <\/p>\n\n\n\n The article continues below this Advertisement<\/p><\/div>