diff --git a/recipes/default.rb b/recipes/default.rb
index 72e2a90c..d9f52687 100644
--- a/recipes/default.rb
+++ b/recipes/default.rb
@@ -18,6 +18,13 @@
 # limitations under the License.
 #
 
+# install a python
+python_runtime '2' do
+  provider :system
+  # Workaround for https://github.com/poise/poise-python/issues/133
+  pip_version '18.0'
+end
+
 platform_options = node['openstack']['common']['platform']
 case node['platform_family']
 when 'debian'