About

Welcome to Pollo al Gringo, or in English: Foreigner's Chicken.  This blog is to document my adventures through South America and beyond.  In July 2017 I quit my job in the medical device industry, sold all my belongings, and bought a one way ticket to Lima, Peru with a backpack. Being on the up and up with the company I was working at for five years didn´t feel like the direction my life was supposed to be headed.  With a little bit of inspiration and a heart filled with wanderlust, I took the plunge and decided to meet a friend in South America to begin an adventure.

While in Peru, everywhere I looked there was pollo (chicken), and I love chicken. On menus, on buildings, in markets, on billboards pollo was written everywhere.  A la Brasa, A la planca, con arroz, and of course now pollo al gringo.  With that little introduction come share some chicken with me and follow my journey!

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

The End of Big City Season: Valparaiso and Santiago

Image
Nothing has changed taking overnight buses. I never sleep well, and I always get the seat next to the guy yelling on his cell phone keeping the baby one seat in front of me screaming. That said, I take them every chance I can, and love walking into a new city at dawn. Such was my thought process arriving to the amazing city of Valparaiso. However, when I stepped off the bus at 6:30AM Saturday morning, it might as well have been midnight. It was pitch black, misting, and the streets near the bus station were deserted. My destination was a hostel named La Esquina on a hill named Cerro Alegre (translation: happy hill). If you were wondering why I picked that hostel, my disposition was happy and I like corner lots (La Esquina). Yes, it is very scientific. At night, because in Valparaiso 7:00am was still night, the streets, empty except for a graffiti speckled grunge, caused a heightened sense of caution. As I approached the base of the hostel’s hill, creatures of the night appeared. Th
Read more

A short story about tall mountains- Cordillera Huayhuash

Image
This post is written as a detailed short story of my experience on the Cordillera Huayhuash trek. A light rain and darkness welcomed us back in Huaraz following Laguna 69. Both the sky and storefronts were black with a planned power outage we were unaware of. Our plans to buy groceries for the elucid Huayhuash trek hit a brick wall, I was thrilled. To not make certain readers too nervous, I didn't mention, but I badly sprained an ankle in Lima after a car/jogging incident and every extra day the Huayhuash hike was postponed was another day of rest to let the swelling dissipate and rebuild strength before starting one of the hardest hikes on the continent. “Yo what’s up guys?” said a voice as we walked into the hostel. “Are you the Americans I heard about that are taking on Huayhuash without a guide tomorrow?” Ari, a young long haired Californian rock climber/surfer welcomed us back with excitement. He wanted to join our trek and had plenty of experience including guiding in
Read more

Less pollo more gringo: a man and his van

Image
A small cool bead drew quickly together at the base of my hairline. A bit thinner than it used to be, the bead slid easily through my hair across the curve of my head to my temple. Slowly, I came to with a sweaty roll into cold damp sheets. Why was it so hot and where was I? With a startle I sat straight up. Was it a work day? Was I in a hotel room? At my parent’s house in Chicago? In New York? In South America? The story of the previous three years could be written from that fleeting moment. Rapidly exploding thoughts reached the rolling green mountain tops surrounding the Hudson Valley before settling back to the river at the valley floor. All that remained was a consistent droning of the ceiling fan. I was safe in my van and it was Saturday. A few hours remained until sunrise and the day’s adventure. I slowly drifted back to sleep. It has been two years since I last posted. From the corners of the US, to Europe to the islands of Indonesia I have not stopped traveling (except for a f
Read more