la yerba man...

the other day i went over to la Meghan´s casa to meet her fun little family but mostly to play with Fragula, the pregnant French Bulldog. Fragula, for all of you readers out there, is Italian for strawberry and I was just informed that yesterday she was wearing a nice knit sweater emblazoned with strawberries.

also, i had my first taste of Yerba Mate, a native drink to South American countries including, Argentina, Bolivia, southern Brazil, Uruguay and Paraguay. The Guaranui people were the first to cultivate Ilex paraguariensis that begins as a shrub and grows into a tree, refered to simply as yerba. the caffeine content is more than black coffee, only if you can choke it down. i must say, despite the really cool mug and straw aparatus, the steeping leaves and twigs end up tasting like fermented celery and brocoli with some sweet pungent brine liquid. i am glad that i tried it, but it is not for me. 5 sips and i had to pass it on. at least it was 4 more sips than the host mom.

while we are on the topic of drinks, tea is the beverige of choice. and next comes Nescafe. they should honestly take cafe our of the the title. it is just water and brown food coloring. with milk and sugar. if you order a coffee in Chile, you must order a `cafe cafe` if you want black espresso like coffee, if not, the standard `cafe`is cafe con leche and sugar. i would reccomend sticking just to tea.

eat, drink and be merry, for tomorrow we die,

rach