la guatita

So, it's around 6 am, you've been dancing like a madperson all night. There aren't any restuarants open because it's too early to eat breakfast and Madrid doesn't have any American-style diners (no burgers and fries). And...you still don't want to go home. Because where's the fun in that? So you head to a street north of the center, full of people leaving clubs. Well, stumbling in their six-inch heels out of the club. You go up to an older woman standing to the side of entrance. She keeps glancing back to a white van parked on the side of the street. Everyone looks sneakily, glancing around for the police. You hand her money, she reaches into a backpack and passes you...drugs? alcohol? No. A tupperware full of rice and who knows what. Una guatita. It's an Ecuadorean dish, made with rice, a peanuty sauce, hard-boiled egg, a plantain, and of course, let's not forget the tripe. Yes. The intenstines. According to my friend, they've been soaked and cooked and doused with lemon for hours, so their texture isn't so rubbery and hard like Spanish-style callos, and the sauce and lemon makes them totally palatable. I do miss America and late-night pizza, but buying illicit rice on the side of the street just gives me such a rush.