The Maté Journey has led to a lot of interesting conversations. Most fall into a few catagories:

1) People who have never heard of Maté and think that I am crazy. Fair enough. (Actually, this group can be further split into people who are interested in the crazy and those who are afraid of the crazy. It’s actually pretty interesting to hear the different responses.)

2) People who have tried Maté once or twice, likely on a trip to South America.

3) People who drink Maté all the time.

All the groups are interesting to me and members from all the different groups have actually become contributors to the Journey (Thank you!!) However, there is one question that is very specific to group #2 that I want to address. The first question I get from group #2 is…

“So, do you have a gourd and ughh whats that straw thing called again….”

“Yes, I have a gourd and a BOMBILLA” I always reply.

“Nice!! I loved that! Where can you get a gourd and bombilla around here?” Is always the next question.

The sad part is I didn’t know. I went to the South American store in the Mission District of SF and still couldn’t find them. You can always get them online, but that’s never as fun or interesting (or personal, which I think is important in gourd selection. It’s like picking out a peice of art that you like.)

Gourd Searchers rejoice! I’ve found the source. By an extremely chance encounter, I met the manager of The Caning Shop in Berkeley, CA. They don’t sell Maté gourds, persay. They specialize in gourd craft! They can help you design and decorate your very own Maté gourd. How cool!

I spent the afternoon learning as much as I could about gourd craft and talking to the Jim, the owner and internationally acclaimed Gourd Crafter about the basics of gourd craft and the keys to a great Maté gourd. More to come on Gourd Crafting….