How to survive a hangover in Argentina
Argentina’s best hangover cures
In a land with cheap booze, late night bars and no spirit measures, things can get a little rough around the edges by the end of the night most likely culminating in a banging resaca the following morning. Here are the top five ways to get around a hangover in Argentina, like a local.
Mate
‘Hair of the dog’ doesn’t really wash here however hooking yourself back onto your caffeinated life-support is perfectly acceptable. Grab your mate, fill it with the powerful herbs, hug your warm thermos close to your needy hungover body and drag on the bombilla (straw) to pull out all that caffeine goodness that will spring you back to life in no time.
Empanadas
Soft, warm and full of melted cheese – empanadas were made for hangovers. One of the staples of Argentine cuisine and so cheap that you can go for any or all of the flavours to suit your unpredictable, irrational whims.
Pancho
Panchos (hotdogs) are more popular than empanadas in some Argentine towns. The closer you get to Chile the more hotdog chains you will notice and in many cities this is the hangover cure de jour! Order a cheap suggestive-looking hotdog, slather it in sauce or whatever toppings you fancy and feel the booze blues slip away.
Siesta
After the enormous effort of getting up and eating, you are sure to have peaked and this is where one important cultural rule of Argentina really starts to make sense: siesta time. A couple hours of snooze in the afternoon is always welcome and it might even give you a second wind for the night ahead.
Cleaning your pavement
If you just can’t manage anything other than repetitive, menial tasks then a hangover is the perfect opportunity to get in with the locals and join your neighbours in the national obsession: cleaning your pavement. Take a broom, hosepipe and mop, put on your sunglasses, and slowly push the leaves back and forth, back and forth. Like a mother rocking her baby to sleep.
