El Terere

Terere is a herbal tea that people drink here. It´s actually kind of good, although it does not have much taste. It kind of tastes like steeped herbs. I guess that´s what tea is supposed to taste like. Not too bad though. However, here el Terere is a national past time. EVERYONE, and yes I mean EVERYONE walk around with their thermos of hot water (or maybe cold) and there little wooden cup (called a guampa pronounce "gwam´pa") and drinks this tea. Old people sit in their window and drink the stuff. Store owner, students, and construction workers and homeless people all do too. Well the interesting part, is how they share it. There are unwritten rules on how one shares their terere. There are unwritten rules on what ones is supposed to do with the metal straw, how to stir the tea, who can stir it etc. It´s kind of cool to watch the "ceremony" when people drink it. So how do they share it? Well they have one wooden cup and a metal straw. Then they pass the cup around so everyone can drink it. Needless to say EVERYONE drinks from the same metal straw. This does not make us too happy because we are not used to this. But I guess it will be something that I have to get used to and take my medicine and Pray that there are no serious risks to drinking the tea this way. Below is a picture.

Everywhere you go people carry these things around. It´s kinda like an country ritual. It´s pretty neat to see.

Terere es un tea medicinal. Me imagino que la mayoria de ustedes ya saben lo que es, asi que aguardense mientras que les aburren con mi explinacion y experiencia. Aqui en Paraguay se toma mucho el terere. Todos cargan su thermos con agua caliente y sus copa de madera (el guampa) La manera en que lo tomen es super interesante. Todoavia no he averiguado la signficancia de las maneras en que toman. Parece un ritual pero es super interesante. Lo mas me hace preocupar es el hecho de que comparten el tea entre mucha gente, todo bebiendo de la misma bombilla (popote, sorbete). Hasta ahora no se me ha emfermado de la gripe pero suspecho que me falta poco para enfermarme. Bueno no les aburro con todo los detalles. Esperen para la proxima actualizacion.