Of Pisco and Peru: Machu Picchu Pt. 1
Machu Picchu
Ingredients:
2 ounces of pure pisco
4 ounces of orange juice
1/4 ounces grenadine syrup
1/4 ounces creme de menthe
Ice
Preparation: In a long glass, add about 4 ice cubes.
Pour in 1 ounce of the pisco, the orange juice and the grenadine. In a cocktail shaker, combine the remaining pisco, creme de menthe and three ice cubes and shake well (this will lighten the creme de menthe so that it floats on the top). Pour on top of the orange juice mixture in the tall glass and add a straw, but don’t stir or the colors will blend together.
An early flight to Cuzco. Tethered to my seat, I sip a Cusqueña beer and scan the pages of my favorite childhood book, “Pig Pig Grows Up”. Its simplicity soothes my mind from the flight jitters. My problem is the raucous high schoolers flanking me.
The banter starts out funny enough. Awkward flirting. Unexplained laughter. Silly monologues leading to nowhere. It’s like eavesdropping on myself thirty-odd years ago. But when the pimply nerd brays ‘Nobody puts baby in the corner’ for the dumbteenth time, hoping to impress the cute faux-emo girl across the aisle, I close my book and turn to Auntie M, who is burrowed…
