Nice information...thanks a lot for sharing.... I kind of disliked the last pic, a lady with a baby and a cigarette and mate!!! I hate smoking.....:(( Regards Pankaj
On Mon, Jan 17, 2011 at 3:35 AM, Na Bha <[email protected]> wrote: > Now I am back, finished the urgent work, and shall tell you the first > story. > > Mate, Mate-tea > > Mate-Tea is a popular drink in tropical southamerica. My Fotos are however > from Buenos Aires. People carry a thermos flask and a Matepot even while > going thru the streets, discussing or arguing with the neighbour, > picknicking. I even saw young people, the boy, with one arm round the > shoulder of his girlfriend and Matepot in the other hand. > > The pot called Mate is made from the fruit of a gourd vine (Iagenaria > vulgaris, cucurbitaceous family). One can choose the form, the decoration as > one likes. Along with traditional Mate pots you will also find kitschy pots > on sale. After the gourd is dried for a long time, one has to cure it. The > vendor tried to explain me with lots of words and plenty of gesture. But my > spanish is not so good. the curing is done to get rid of the bitterness of > the gourd. Again german wiki http://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mate has much more > information than english wiki. > > Anyway the pot is Mate, comes from the old Indian language quechua. The rod > is called bombilla, it is like a straw and the spoon-end is a sieve. > Mate-tea, called yerba, are leaves of Mate bush (Ilex paraguariensis > A.St.-Hil, auch: Ilex paraguensis D.Don und Ilex paraguayensis Hook). Half > of the Matepot is filled with Yerba and hotwater is poured on it. With > Bombilla you drink (suck) the tea. > It is extremely bitter, not my case. One may drink the tea with suger, milk, > aromated tea, and what not. But a real Argentinean will drink it the > traditional way, anytime, everywhere. I wonder if they go to bed with a > matepot near the alarmclock. > > Btw. Buenos Aires is a beautiful city, plenty of green, small niches along > the roads to sit and drink mate or to watch the hustle and bustle. Just too > warm. > > Asta la vista > Nalini -- *********************************************** "TAXONOMISTS GETTING EXTINCT AND SPECIES DATA DEFICIENT !!" Pankaj Kumar Ph.D. (Orchidaceae) Research Associate Greater Kailash Sacred Landscape Project Department of Habitat Ecology Wildlife Institute of India Post Box # 18 Dehradun - 248001, India
