"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) searched for peculiar but telling stories around the Western Hemisphere to gain an understanding of the societies he encountered. The result is 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's lively narratives show how travel has the ability to illuminate cultures while unleashing their bottomless complexities." -- back cover