Tomando Mate

Yea, I know that pic kinda looks like I´ve been caught under slightly suspicious sort of circumstances, but just in case you´re wondering: no, its not. I´m just drinking Argentinian green tea out of a funny cup with a metal straw. Honest. Thats what everyone does here.. The cup is called a "mate" and the straw is a "bombilla", and the green stuff you put inside is the "yerba mate".

Yerba Mate (say: mah-teh) is a very bitter green tea, high in anti-oxidants and a key ingredient of weight-loss pills and holistic medicines. In argentinian culture drinking mate is a thing that is shared, a bit like sitting down for a beer with a couple friends, only that you dont need to go down the pub to do it. You can sit down and sip away at home or do take-away with a hot water thermos and go sit down in the park and watch the world go by.

Just this evening a couple hours ago I was at a park in barrio Belgrano watching an open-air tango with two argentinian sisters: Carolina and Monica all sharing some mate. I´m a wimp and I drink it with sugar but you´re not supposed to.