What was I thinking?!?

Stomach issues are sort of a given in Peace Corps service, right? Well I have to say that I've had pretty good luck with that since I've been here... Until this past weekend...

It all started when I was SUPER hungry Friday afternoon as I was heading to Guamote for the weekend. When I got to the Guamote stop (which is dirt field and NOT at the terminal), I was ravenously looking for anything to hold me over for the hour long drive. Considering its location, there weren't many options: tripe with mote and ice-cream. Well, since I needed real food, I choose the tripe and mote - which was mistake number 1.

Mote is just boiled hominy, totally harmless. But tripe is animal stomach, and in this case grilled and chopped into bite sized pieces. I have to say it didn't taste too bad going down, but maybe it wasn't the best thing to buy from a street-vendor. Needless to say, that night wasn't too pleasant with the cramps and diarrhea.

The next day I was feeling crummy and hadn't had a thing to eat all morning when William and I decided to go out and find somewhere to get soup. After finally hunting down an almuerzo place, the cook told me all she had was sheep soup. Ecstatic, I ordered a bowl and sat ready for the delicious healing qualities of hot soup to flood me. What I got however, was a veggie stock with a giant sheep jaw sticking out of it. Now I've eaten some pretty 'interesting' things since I've been here but this jaw was definitely the topper. It still had the teeth (with grass) and chin (with whiskers) and was soaking there with little flaps of flesh flaking into the stock. Sounds appetizing huh?

Despite the appearance, I was SO hungry that I removed the carcass piece from the bowl and continued to eat as much of the stock as I could. Since jaws are apparently fatty and 'flavorful' every spoonful was tasted like sips meat juice. Halfway through, I was feeling even sicker than before and went back to William's place and spent the rest of the weekend between the bathroom and the bed.

I'm feeling better as of today, aside from the occasional cramp, and have learned some very valuable lessons such as Don't expect freshness from street-vendor stomach, Jaw juice is better left uneaten and ALWAYS choose the ice-cream option.