Then we met Felix, an old Mayan Indian living in an old RV. After sharing meals and campfires for a week, he took us into desert to show us ancient metates (grain-grinding stones) and arrowheads. We also found hundreds of beautiful rocks of every type, including Apache Tears, Fire Agate, and various quartzes.

Irina, a nineteen-year-old "rainbow kid," who had been living in her van for months, rode with Felix in his old pickup. We took our van. We spent two hours at first stop. The recent rain had made rocks and artifacts stand out, washing them clean. We were mostly just rock collecting.

Irina and my wife Ana found odd pieces that may have been arrowheads. We found old pottery pieces too, and Felix came back with half of a pot painted with an intricate design. It was probably hundreds of years old. Felix had been in desert for years, and kept seeing things we missed.

Pony Express Ruins

Travelling to South Africa? Well, you’re going to Cape Town, right? And you want to see if you can get Big 5? Here’s something that’s better than Cape Town. Better than Big 5. And it’s Drakensberg Boys’ Choir. There aren’t that many things that are unique or world class in South Africa, but Drakensberg Boys’ Choir is one of them.

Thirty-six years ago, Drakensberg Boys’ Choir was born. The dream was of a multi-racial, multi-cultural Choir School to rival Vienna Boys. Not in middle of a history-rich, ancient European city. But in boondocks. In a beautiful, rural, sparsely populated valley in Drakensberg Mountains of KwaZulu Natal, South Africa. The first and only one of its kind on continent.

Doors opened in 1965 to first 20 pupils, after John Tungay persuaded his parents, Ronald and Gwen, to dedicate 100 acres of their farm to his proposed school. Today annual intake is 100 boys between 9 and 15, and auditions are held nation-wide.

Can you think of anything more sublime than crisp, mountain air, majestic mountains, azure skies and natural beauty as far as eye can see, complemented by pure tones of counter-tenor harmony?