An addendum ... Mate, An Obsession

Everywhere we have been on this journey through Chile, Argentina and Uruguay, people are gathered in a circle passing a single gourd with leather wrapping with a silver straw. It is a ritual! Morning, noon, afternoon and night.
People carry around a thermos of hot water with their mate vessel. If they are riding a scooter or motorcycle they carry a special leather case designed especially for the thermos, cup and silver straw, la bombilla.
Sitting on the stoop, sitting in lawn chairs in front of their homes or on the beach, waiting for the bus or plane, at work or a play, everyone is sipping their mate!
WHAT'S UP?
I have asked a couple of people, Mariel in Buenos Aires, the cute ladies in Valdavia, and the woman who we stayed with in Castro, Chiloe, what's in this special drink that is so appealing that people cannot be without and they insisted that it isn't filled with caffeine or a hidden drug. I find this hard to believe!!
This is truly a social phenomenon!!
After passing up an opportunity to try mate with Mariel I purchased my own bombilla. I think it will make a wonderful ‘straw’ for consuming fresh ginger tea or perhaps cinnamon sticks mixed with orange zest & whole cloves.
Here is some information I found online to explain more. I only wish I had collected pictures of people we saw EVERYWHERE with their own special mate set-up!
Mate is a traditional South American infused drink. It is prepared from steeping dried leaves of yerba matein hot water.
Mate is served with a metal straw from a shared hollow gourd. The straw is called a bombilla in some Latin American countries, a bomba in Portuguese, and a bombilla, type of straw. The straw is traditionally made of silver.. Even if the water comes in a very modern thermos, the infusion is traditionally drunk from mates or cuias.
As with other brewed herbs, yerba mate leaves are dried, chopped, and ground into a powdery mixture called yerba. The bombilla acts as both a straw and a sieve. The submerged end is flared, with small holes or slots that allow the brewed liquid in, but block the chunky matter that makes up much of the mixture.