Menudo Sopa

Spent Saturday in Mexico City for a much needed night away from Pachuca. I went with a couple Mexican friends... we decided to go to a traditional Mexican restaurant to eat, drink a few beers, and watch the Mexico v Coast Rica futbol game. So the restaurant that they pick is known for their Menudo soup. And I'm thinking, oh goody, this is gonna rock, because even though I don't know what it is, they are raving about it. So we get there and they order a bunch of weird stuff that I've never heard of and we discuss the game, start on our cervezas, etc. When the food comes out I am a little weary of the soup because of the potent smell it is giving off but can't not try it after the hype, so I dig in. It's not bad at first, but eventually it is too overpowering to bear. It tasted very gamey- weird, I thought, for a soup. I examined more closely and decided that the key ingredient was some strange type of white noodle/rice. So amongst the Mexican's praise, I eat about 1/3 of my bowl of soup to be polite and not cause a cultural scene... I don't find out until yesterday, when I told an American friend of this experience, that Menudo soup's main ingredient is actually pig intestines. SICK!