No stomach inside another stomach

RULE.

Allow me to explain: while living in Bolivia, my brother had the wonderful opportunity to partake of a dish called panza de vaca. Cow stomach. After which, he became horrifically ill and decided to invent a new motto: No stomach need ever be placed inside of another stomach.

This is a good motto. I should have taken it more seriously.

After visiting Mitad del Mundo, we decided to stop for dinner. Driving along the city streets, one will see lots of restaurants. None of these restaurants appear to follow any semblance of food safety codes, but we eventually found a nice-looking one that offered the traditional dinner of soup, meat and dessert. Ecuadorians know their soups. This one had a pale grain called quinoa. I think I may have seen quinoa in the States, but never tasted it. Anyone had quinoa before?

Next came the meat. I've been trying to taste exotic things while living here, so Emme and I decided to be adventurous and split a plato of cow stomach. Even as I agreed, Alec's motto rang in my mind: no stomach inside another stomach, no stomach inside another stomach…

Panza de Vaca

The curly-haired server appeared with the plate and I eyed it suspiciously. It didn't look too bad. I slid it toward me and hesitantly took a bite. Chew. Swallow.

"Huh. That's pretty good, actually."

"Tori. That was a potato."

"Oh."

I tried again, carefully selecting a piece that distinctly wasn't potato. Bite. Chew. Chew some more. More chewing. Swallow.

"Okay, that was chewy. Kinda like a mushroom." I suddenly wondered if I had eaten the wrong thing again and held up a piece for closer inspection.

I shouldn't have. Really.

I have no other way to describe what I saw except to say the piece of vaca had tiny poky-pokies all over it. The scientific term, I believe, is "villi." All over. Honestly, it reminded me of those little suction-cups on an octopus tentacle. Basically, it was supergross.

I took another bite. Lots of chewing. Swallow. Shifting things around on my plate. The rice looked safe. I eventually managed to finish my dinner in time for desert: sugary pan de pan (much like bread pudding) topped with a leche sauce.

Very early the next morning, I awoke suddenly to…

THE END.

Sorry, story ends here. You may use your imagination if you'd like. Just please remember that NO STOMACH NEED EVER BE PLACED WITHIN ANOTHER STOMACH. Thank you.