Australia<\/strong><\/p>\n Greece & Turkey<\/strong><\/p>\n Do you know of other authentic souvenirs worth bringing back from your Explorica trip? Help steer your peers in the right direction by leaving your suggestions in the comments. It doesn\u2019t hurt to still have that T-shirt. But you\u2019ll look much cooler in it sipping your steamy mate, playing your boomerang or giving fellow teachers or classmates that blue evil eye.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" You spend a lot of time mapping out the perfect itinerary, taking in all the sites you can cram into each day and sometimes even pushing yourself beyond your comfort zone to experience something new. All that and you\u2019re thinking of bringing home a T-shirt to remember your trip? Before you go on the hunt Read More …<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"aside","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[173,63,172],"tags":[127,85,125,58,113,128,126],"class_list":["post-728","post","type-post","status-publish","format-aside","hentry","category-parents","category-students","category-teachers","tag-argentina","tag-australia","tag-authentic-souvenirs","tag-educational-travel","tag-greece","tag-student-travel","tag-turkey","post_format-post-format-aside"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.explorica.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/728","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.explorica.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.explorica.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.explorica.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.explorica.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=728"}],"version-history":[{"count":9,"href":"https:\/\/www.explorica.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/728\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":5718,"href":"https:\/\/www.explorica.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/728\/revisions\/5718"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.explorica.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=728"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.explorica.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=728"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.explorica.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=728"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}![\"Mate\"](\"http:\/\/farm4.static.flickr.com\/3286\/2767852455_a169ca4aa1.jpg\")
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\nLand of the gauchos (and therefore great steak), the tempestuous tango and Iguazu Falls<\/a>, (considered one of the natural wonders of the world,) Argentina has a spicy culture. This might be why everywhere you look, the locals are sipping yerba mate, or just mate (pronounced \/MAH-teh\/) as they call it\u2014a tea-like drink believed to reduce fatigue, lower blood pressure and boost rejuvenation. (Something has to calm them down.) Bring home a pound of the ground leaves for brewing or even the typical cup and bombilla that holds the hot beverage. These are small hollowed out dried gourds with a straw pipe, usually metal, that you can find in any outdoor mercado or feria in Buenos Aires<\/a>. Since you can\u2019t take home the asado barbecue from your Estancia<\/a> excursion and you might need a few (months) of tango lessons to bring back that custom, it\u2019s the next best way to capture the spirit of the porte\u00f1os. And with 24 vitamins and minerals, it\u2019s a healthy way to counter all that Latino food you will have undoubtedly \u201csampled.\u201d<\/p>\n![\"Didgeridoos](\"http:\/\/farm3.static.flickr.com\/2358\/2476673198_f417815049.jpg\")
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\nWhen visiting the land down under, you might be tempted to pack a jar of vegemite and anything resembling a furry koala or kangaroo in your luggage. And hey\u2014that\u2019s all right\u2014but there are also some things you can take with you that might not require a lint brush. Look to the artisanal crafts of the indigenous people, the Aborigines, for inspiration. While visiting Cairns<\/a>, where indigenous Australian culture still thrives, try finding a handmade boomerang. The carved, usually wooden, flying boomerang was an effective tool for their hunter-gatherer culture. Today, boomerangs are still used for sport with competitions based on speed of throw and accuracy of return. But long ago, boomerangs were even used as percussion instruments with two hit together back to back like clap sticks. (Hmm\u2026 It\u2019s never to late to pick up a new instrument.) If the wind section is more your speed, find a didgeridoo. An indigenous Australian didgeridoo player paints a musical picture, evoking animal and wind sounds, while the boomerang holds rhythm. As if your friends and family won\u2019t already be blown away by your trip photos, impress them more with your newfound musical talent!<\/p>\n![\"matia\"](\"http:\/\/farm2.static.flickr.com\/1038\/1404815466_a86436fb69.jpg\")
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\nWhen visiting Greece<\/a> and Turkey<\/a>, as you\u2019re ogling at all the wonders of a new culture, don\u2019t be surprised if you spy \u201cthe evil eye.\u201d And when you do, it\u2019s not necessarily a bad thing. Socrates, the Greek philosopher was thought to possess the evil eye\u2014maybe just because he had penetrating eyes that fascinated people. The evil eye amulet, sometimes called the Eye of Medusa in Turkey, can be seen hanging in local houses, from car mirrors and even as pendants on necklaces. It\u2019s said to ward off evil and bring luck and success. Find them in shops along the cobblestone streets around the Acropolis<\/a> in Greece or in the open-air markets of Istanbul<\/a>. Pick a blue one as blue is thought of as a protective color. And pick one out for your favorite teacher or student. One would never guess that giving someone an evil eye would be a kind gesture\u2026<\/p>\n