Sea and Cuisine

After IES Orientation, the first couple days of classes, and finding my way around the city, the first tourist-y thing I did was the sunset sea cruise with some friends. It was great to be reunited with friends, but during the "sunset" sea cruise, the sun was bright, the waves were rough, and there was no complimentary wine like the advertisement promoted. Towards the end, Michael and I went to the first floor of the boat to take a siesta. My tummy was not enjoying the waves. 

After the sunset sea cruise, Katerina Popov, Michael Aaron and I went on our own adventure to find a foreign cuisine for dinner. We found a small resturant on near the shore called La Flor de Norte. We each decided to order paella, which is a traditional Spanish dish that consists of white rice, green vegetables, meat or seafood, beans and seasoning. Although Michael has never tried shell fish, he is allergic. Yes, you heard me right. It's on my bucket list to take Michael to Red Lobster for his first time hehehe. Anyways, due to his imagination, he ordered the carne (meat) paella plater while Katerina and I ordered the mixed carne and pescado (meet and seafood) paella  platter. 

Seafood and meat? Sounds good, right? Well, it was. When eating the unique cuisine, I thought I was eating chicken as the meat and calamari, shrimp, and mussels as the seafood. When asking Katerina what she thought was in it, she said there was also lamb. Lamb?! I have never eaten lamb, so I could not tell. It tasted like chicken.

When I got home, I showed Esther, my host Madre,  a picture of what I ate. She asked if I knew what was in it. I told her my thoughts, but she shook her head at me. My stomach dropped.  When examining the picture, she said I ate...

arroz = rice

verduras = vegetables

mejillones = mussels

calamares = calamari 

gambas = shrimp

pollo = chicken

conejo = rabbit

costilla de cerdo = pig rids

That's right-- rabbit and pig ribs.  Well that's just great. I will admit I like to try new things, so I wasn't too grossed out. I was more shocked than anything. The rabbit was already in my stomach, so there was no going back. Overall, it really did taste like chicken. 

Con un conejo en mi estómago,

RachRobes