INTERESTING TIMES

I discovered mate when I was travelling in Chile in 1992-3. The Andean people drink the stuff all day long, using a bombilla and a gourd. A bombilla is a metal straw with a mini tea ball on the end. You put the mate leaves in your gourd, dump in a spoonful of sugar and top it with hot water, and drink through the bombilla. The Chilean men drink it while working, and keep adding more water and more sugar.
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