Battle of the Sexes: Round I

Your author once asked a barista, “Which is better: coffee or women?”

She responded without hesitation, “Both are delicious, but the coffee won't cause you much trouble.”

This sage wisdom more or less captures the essence of my recent trip to a Mexican coffee plantation with a Mexican hippie girl. Join me as we relive the sensual passion (and the sexual frustration).

Road Babe Dispatch From Oaxaca

Everybody talks about Puerto Escondido. I didn't want Puerto Escondido. I'd seen Endless Summer enough times to get the point. I didn't want Zipolite, either. Not that I have a problem dropping trow, but anything advocated as nudist is a bit of a turn off. What I wanted was something in between. Small enough to camp out in my tent, yet big enough to seek out hidden spots: palapas with fresh seafood or coves with inlet beaches and not another person in sight.

Road Babe Dispatch From Rainstorm Hell

While I was trekking across Ghana's northwest corner to Wa, the sky opened up in a most tremendous way and even the larger-than-a-cat mosquitoes took cover. I was thankful for a tin roof and a lack of windows as water beat down like fists over my head. Afterwards, the road to Kumasi (which normally has potholes the size of coffee tables) had fresh mud pits leaving me and my pack an unrecognizable mess of reddish-brown.