A sharp-shooting SWAT team, a Venezuelan producer of alcoholic love potions, and an audacious subway rat are among the cast of characters award-winning author Darrin DuFord encounters in Breakfast for Alligators: Quests, Showdowns, and Revelations in the Americas. Through such mediums as public transit, cuisine, urban wildlife, and music, DuFord (author of Is There a Hole in the Boat? Tales of Travel in Panama Without a Car, 2007 Lowell Thomas Travel Journalism Awards silver medalist) has created a collection of insightful pieces that expose the desires and realities shaping landscapes from Chile to Canada. From surviving a journey in a homemade submarine off the coast of Honduras to receiving a lesson in aging from the street art of Valparaiso, Chile, DuFord serves up lively, engaging narratives that show how travel has the ability to illuminate cultures while unleashing their bottomless complexities.
"Breakfast for Alligators is an eye-opener for both the untraveled and the well-traveled alike because this is no shiny tourism guide, this is down-home firsthand experience, and all the more charming for it."
“Darrin DuFord’s thoughtful, reflective prose offers a short episodic-type glimpse of the moments in question—competing wine festivals that weren’t all that competitive in Chile, a slice of the drumming life in Montevideo, Uruguay....There’s plenty to entertain.”
“Darrin DuFord’s latest magnum opus vividly takes us from the steamy New Orleans suburbs to the jungles of Guyana to the coffee-covered hills of Nicaragua and beyond. This is more than breakfast: it’s a readable, enjoyable feast, best consumed any time of day or night.”
“In a world full of overwrought and contrived travel stories, Darrin DuFord’s collection, Breakfast for Alligators, is a breath of fresh air: open, honest, and in love with the world (and its many flavors) in a way that makes you yearn to go along with DuFord as he follows his curiosity to the far corners of the Americas.”
“DuFord has created a series of magical and often humorous travel stories in which no local foods, material realities, or local rituals are off-limits. Breakfast for Alligators is a joy to read.”
“An anthology of rollicking, sometimes baffling adventures (and plenty of misadventures)....A bunch of great stories.”
“DuFord captures the best of travel writing—by turn informative and entertaining, often hilarious, sometimes moving... He takes us on one wild ride after another.”
"Gritty, funny, street-savvy, boisterous, and informative."
“Intrepid and chronically curious, Darrin DuFord charges into the more obscure corners of Latin America and brings back revealing, sometimes bizarre details. Warning: may inspire impulse plane-ticket purchases.”