One of the endearing words in Peru is Mamita. Mom-ita. Hard to translate into English because it is more of a form of respect towards a mother. The older the mother, the more respect she gets.
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| Mamita |
We were hiking in deep in the high andes cloud forest. It was dark outside and us gringos, had purchased a sheep for some fresh meat but wanted nothing to do with the organs or brains. Our muleteers were happy for that because the brain and guts and organs are the best part. After the brains had been boiling over a fire in a pot of stew a little old
mamita came over and I watched this with interest. The muleteer very politely acknowledged her and invited her over for some brain stew. They handed her a bowl and then served her the boney sheep skull with the brains circling in it. She slurped down the brains like we slurp spaghetti. I liked to think that she slurped the brains out through the sheep's eye sockets but i don't think that was totally true. After the evening meal of brain stew, the men threw in some more water and organs and simmered it all night. In the morning, mamita again received a big bowl with the best organs. They offered us some for breakfast which gagged me thinking of it. Miriam, my very own daughter, my genetics, said "Yes, Thank you" and slurped down some organ stew for breakfast.
We were hiking in deep in the high andes cloud forest. It was dark outside and us gringos, had purchased a sheep for some fresh meat but wanted nothing to do with the organs or brains. Our muleteers were happy for that because the brain and guts and organs are the best part. After the brains had been boiling over a fire in a pot of stew a little old mamita came over and I watched this with interest. The muleteer very politely acknowledged her and invited her over for some brain stew. They handed her a bowl and then served her the boney sheep skull with the brains circling in it. She slurped down the brains like we slurp spaghetti. I liked to think that she slurped the brains out through the sheep's eye sockets but i don't think that was totally true. After the evening meal of brain stew, the men threw in some more water and organs and simmered it all night. In the morning, mamita again received a big bowl with the best organs. They offered us some for breakfast which gagged me thinking of it. Miriam, my very own daughter, my genetics, said "Yes, Thank you" and slurped down some organ stew for breakfast.
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