On my way to becoming a true porteña!

I recently took the next step to fitting in here by buying my very own mate and becoming a yerba mate addict. the other weekend we headed to plaza francia which has one of the best street fairs every weekend where you can find all sorts of awesome crafts and random stuff. i decided i needed a mate and found this really pretty wooden one (less comon then the typical ones made of calabaza gourds but nicely made with a stand and very cool); it also came with a really cool bombilla (the metal straw thing for drinking the mate) all for around 10 dollars.
so what is yerba mate? according to trusty wikipedia, Yerba mate is a species of holly. (wierd, didn't know that lol). The infusion called mate prepared by steeping the dried leaves in hot water (has to be hot but not boiling or you'll burn the yerba!) rather than boiling water like tea or coffee. It is slightly less potent than coffee and much gentler on the stomach. Drinking mate with friends from a shared hollow gourd (also called a mate in Spanish) with a metal straw, the bombilla, is an extremely common social practice in Argentina, Uruguay, Paraguay, Chile, southern Bolivia and Brazil. but Argentines claim it to be their national drink (another rivalry between portenos and uruguayos). its great to see porteños in business suits walking around with their fancy thermos and mate. its pretty typical to see argentines hanging out with their mate and a thermos in a park or wherever chating with friends, etc. According to some legend... The Guarani people started drinking mate in the region that now includes Paraguay and north-east Argentina. The Guarani have a legend that says that the Goddesses of the Moon and the Cloud came to the Earth one day to visit it but they instead found a Yagureté (a kind of Jaguar) that was going to attack them. An old man saves them, and, in compensation, the Goddesses gave the old man a new kind of plant, from which he could prepare a "drink of friendship". [thanks wikipedia]
anyway, im becoming obsessed with my mate a bit. great to hang out with friends, good for a little buzz for studying without making me feel too sick like coffee can. here is my prettymate:



next- get myself a thermos :P