Radical Guampas

On Wednesday I joined Jeff and Andy the Guarani and Spanish teacher on a trip to Brasilia Avenue which is getting a bit closer to downtown, and probably the nicest area I have seen in Asuncion so far.  It was really only to get a mountain of fried chicken for about 13 people, so the order was very large and took a long time to prepare, so we got to roam around the premises while we waited.  I discovered the fried chicken place had a small tereré accoutrement room for personalised guampas and flasks.  Guampas for tereré (see tereré post for more details) and mate (the same drink, only hot) are made from hollowed-out animal horns, and all Paraguayans, it seems, use them daily -they have tereré breaks the way we would have coffee breaks.  All Christian missionaries here have them too, not to fit in, but because they all like the drink and the daily community experience drinking tereré creates.  Here are some pictures of the wares:

The most common designs for guampas tend to be the word 'Paraguay', and the logos for Paraguayan football clubs.  One club, Olympia, is about 15 blocks from me.

The special straws (bombillas) are necessary, but the bombilla brush (in Jeff's hand) is just to look superior.

The designed thermoses, all leather exteriors.  Nice.

Jeff and Andy are probably thinking, 'This thermos could fit a chipmunk.'

Another football club.  Interestingly, I haven't seen anybody wearing football strips for local teams.  97% of seen strips are for the Paraguayan national team, with 3% for Brazil or Argentina.

Brazilian guampas aren't flat on the bottom so they need a bench.

Leather and wooden guampas aren't so nice.  You might as well just use a mug.

Magical: Guampas can also be used to make emergency phone-calls (when the person you're contacting is standing in earshot).

This post was made to give me a break from editing film footage (the most anti-social task known to man). I'm spending the next week in Asuncion editing, but also, on Monday I return to Asuncion Christian Academy to film some of their soccer practice which was cancelled last Thursday.