Drinking and Driving in Posadas

From Puerto Iguazu, I took a bus to Posadas. The capital to the Missiones province of Argentina, Posadas is a small town in walking distance of the Paraguayan border. My goal was to spend the night there, walk to Paraguay the next day, check out the Reducciones Jesuiticas , then walk back to Argentina.
When I arrived at the bus station, I had to find of a place to spend the night and I turned to my most honed skill: pinpoint foreigners. It only took 30 seconds from stepping foot of the bus before I saw these two girls holding a lonely planet book. I asked them for any suggestions for a place to stay. Although this was my third backpacking trip across multiple countries, it was the first time I ever travelled without any guidebook whatsoever, so I have to rely on the kindness of strangers in order to get around. Fortunately, backpackers are almost a brotherhood. In my 10 years of experience backpacking, I don’t recall a backpacker ever leading me astray.
I will leave the whole guide book issue to some other blog post, but I can’t go without saying that not having a guide has been great fun so far…
Okay, back to Missiones. The Interesting thing about this area of Argentina is that people drink terere non-stop. For those who don’t know what terere is (basically anyone who is not this area), it is basically iced tea, unsweetened. What makes it so particular is that it is not infused. Basically, you fill the whole cup with herb and pour cold water in it, and then you drink the entire thing immediately after you pour the water. The overwhelming quantity of tea herb makes up for the fact that the water only sits in the cup for 15 seconds. It is a cool and refreshing flavor.
The two girls I spotted at the station were Swiss. They told me to get on bus 23 towards el centro (downtown) and get off at the hotel Posadas, where I’d find a room for 20 pesos, or 5 American dollars. I asked them how long of a bus ride it was. They laughed and said “It depends on how many terere stops !!!”
I didn’t quite get what that meant, but I thanked them and rushed to a bus stop where I saw a bus 23 getting ready to pull out.
The bus was empty I didn’t really pay much attention to what was going on, but I couldn’t help but notice it made all the stops, even though no one got on or off. I began to pay attention to the driver and I realized that he would stop at every bus stop, or every intersection for that matter, so a little kid could come in and fill up his terere cup, giving thorough meaning to the sentence “it depends on how many terere stops !!!”
I was still laughing at that when the driver made what appeared to be another terere stop. Instead, he told me I should get off and walk a block up, where I would find the Hotel Posadas. I thanked him and went for door, but I before I could get off, I had to wait for this little kid, who was filling up the terere cup. I guess it was a terere stop after all.