Travels with Charley...I mean Luke

In 1960 John Steinbeck took a trip across the United States with his pet poodle Charley. I suppose Charley, in some ways, was not only taken for companionship, but also as a living and breathing sort of "ice breaker" for all of the people Steinbeck was bound to meet during his journey. Much like that great American author, I too am traveling with a living and breathing ice breaker...his name is Lucas Dunnington. I could go on and on about all of the things Luke and his Spanish has allowed us to achieve down here, but I will just give one quick story that sums it up:

We spent three days earlier this week in and around the small town of San Ignacio in (waaaayyyy) northern Peru. San Ignacio, or "St. Ig" as I will now refer to it, is a clean, peaceful town near the Ecuadorian border. Notable things about St. Ig are its abundance of coffee cooperatives, its inordinate number of remarkably beautiful women, and the Grand Hotel San Ignacio, which is a mammoth structure that just opened and was pretty much just hosting us. Being one of just a few guests has its advantages, not the least of which being an over-abundance of quality service from the staff. That is where our story begins.

We ate dinner at the hotel both nights in town. For both meals we were treated with service from an tremendously eager waiter named Wilson. Wilson, at age 21, brought with him a very formal, yet extremely friendly attitude to the job. The first evening at Chez St. Ig, our food options were limited, mainly due to the relatively isolated nature of the town. In hopes of at least a good drink we asked for some pisco sours (of course). But, alas, they did not even have the ingredients for that ubiquitous Peruvian cocktail. Sensing our disappointment, Wilson promised better from the kitchen the next evening.


Fast forward about twenty-four hours. We were back in the restaurant, eager for our meal and promised pisco sours. But to our dismay, the kitchen was unable to procure pisco for our drinks. Not to be left dry for another night, Luke took the initiative to head up the hill into town to buy the necessary bottle of pisco. Luke´s initiative and smooth talking not only allowed us to access to our favorite drinks, but also provided access to the kitchen in order to get a lesson from the kitchen and wait staff about how to make the famous Peruvian drink. We spent a good amount of time back in the kitchen making, and even better, drinking those pisco sours with our waiters and cooks. Afterwards we were treated to a good dinner and company from more members of the hotel staff. Essentially, as we were pretty much the only guests, there wasn´t much more for the staff to do than drink pisco sours with us. Thanks Luke.