New Perspectives From Nearly Dying

“A split second – time literally split into two possibilities.
One carrying life, the other death.
Your choice matters
And will change you forever.”

– Heather Markel, June 2019.

I’ve become obsessed with the Argentinian mate culture. I simply can’t get enough of the herb or the cups and straws, as I mentioned in another post. So, I’ve traveled to the area, and town, where the yerba plant is grown. Like so much other nature of Argentina, this is another plant that only grows in one place and one place only, due to the climate. What I didn’t know, before arriving, is that this town, called Posadas, has no tourism. In about a week, I have not met one other person from any other part of the world, and there are no group tours. Strange and surreal. The impact is that I can only get to the area I want to see if I hire a car and driver, which I do. 

My driver was a nice man but liked to drive fast and much too close to the car in front of us. I told him I’m used to about 3 car-lengths between us and the next car, but this did nothing to change his style. He also told me I’m a beautiful woman, at least twice, which made me uncomfortable though, happily, he didn’t try anything. Fresh off my last experience, I was already overly sensitive and uncomfortable having to travel alone with him and trying to keep calm. Happily he did get me in to a yerba plantation I would never have seen otherwise and got a full overview of the yerba-making process.  

“Choices really do matter.”

As we drove back from the plantation, the driver was holding his mate in one hand, and for some reason, looking at me while driving all too fast for my liking. He completely missed the fact that the car in front of us was driving behind a slow truch and making no effort to pass it. Luckily, I noticed that for him and I realized he wasn’t going to slow down. For just a moment I saw, in my mind, the crash into that car in front of us. I saw the dashboard crush around my legs and knew I would either be dead, or else crippled and likely comatose and life changed forever. I didn’t want this to happen so I screamed for him to slow down. He slammed the brakes and only because the cars in front of us were moving did we avoid the crash. Only because I had my seatbelt on did I avoid going through the windshield.

Yerba – the plant being grown and gathered to be taken to manufacturers for distribution. Seeing the yerba plantations was the reason I wanted to come to Posadas and take this tour.