Cover from Brazil no. 6

I received this very informative set of three se-tenant stamps from Ricardo in Brazil. They show the Estrada Real ("Royal Road"), a colonial-era road in Brazil which was started by the Portuguese colonists and their African slaves in 1697 shortly after gold, diamonds, and other precious minerals were discovered in the present-day state of Minas Gerais. The purpose of the road was to facilitate the movement of those minerals from the interior to the coast and thence to Lisbon.
The Estrada Real is made up of 177 cities (162 in Minas Gerais, 8 in Rio de Janeiro and 7 in São Paulo) split in three roads, the Old Road, which connects Paraty and Ouro Preto, the New Road, from Rio de Janeiro to Ouro Preto and the Road of the Diamonds, from Ouro Preto to Diamantina.

The middle stamp is made by a special technique, the ancient road being hard to touch (like a stone).

There is also a special cancellation celebrating 20th anniversary of the Recreative Association of the Postal Workers of Sao Paulo Metropolitana.

Thank you, Ricardo!

Cover from Brazil no. 5

One of my older letters received in March 2008, with a set of 6 stamps from a 24-piece sheet dedicated to the marine life, issued in the project Expo 98: International Year of the Oceans (on 22 May 1998, print-run 300,000), the rest of the postage is made up by 4 definitive self-adhesives from the 2002 series dedicated to musical instruments and 2 "costureiras" from another definitive series (2005) showing various professions. The letter was postmarked in Rafael de Barros, Sao Paulo. Thank you, Cinthia!

Postcard from Brazil no. 2

A card showing the Parque de Ibirapuera in São Paulo (which is comparable in its importance to the Central Park in New York City). The single stamp of RS 1, issued on 07/02/2009 in 1,020,000 copies, is dedicated to the Brazilian archbishop and "pastor of peace" Dom Helder Camara (1909 - 1999). Apart from his portrait the stamp shows a silhouette of Instituto Dom Helder Camara in Recife. Thank you Maria, from Varginha, Minas Gerais.

Cover from Brazil no. 4

A letter received on 9 March 2009, sent on 18 February 2009 from the town of Porto Uniao in the state of Santa Catarina. The single stamp was issued on 22 November 2008 and is one of a series of stamps commemorating the 200th anniversary of the arrival of the Portuguese royal family to Brazil. It shows a map of the Atlantic Ocean with letters flying between Portugal, Brazil, Guinea-Bissau, Mozambique and Angola, and is a symbolic reminder of the 200th anniversary of the provisional regulations of the general administration of the post which modernised the then postal system.
Thank you, Nina.

Cover from Brazil no. 3

Another nice cover from Brazil, received on 9 March 2009 and sent on 16 February 2009 from Brasília/BSB (maybe the airport?). There are 3 self-adhesive (and impossible to soak off;-)) definitives from the series dedicated to various trades (sapateiro and costureira) plus a trumpet (and scouting) stamp I have already commented in one of my earlier posts. The larger commemorative stamp was issued on 8 September 2007, in 1,020,000 copies, in the project UPAEP, with the theme Education for All. The stamp bears the logo of ProInfo (Programa Nacional de Informática na Educação) and celebrates the distance learning using computers.

Thank you, Claudinei!

Cover from Brazil no. 2 - aromatic

Received today after 23 days of travelling from Botafogo, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, a surprise in the form of an aromatic sheet of 4 stamps issued on 1 August 1999. The quartet of RS 0.51 stamps is printed on recycled paper impregnated with the smell of burnt wood (it really smells like that). The goal of the issue was to remind people of the danger of forest fires threatening Brazilian national parks. In the stamps there are pictures of an anteater, a flower, a leaf and calcined tree-bark. In the centre there is a map of Brazil.

The other two stamps are self-adhesive definitives from 2002 featuring trumpet and scouting paraphernalia.

Thank you, Cristina.

Postcard from Brazil

Pantanal Conservation Area - a huge freshwater wetland ecosystem - is on of the 17 Brazilian UNESCO sites. It is situated in western central Brazil.

I received this postcards from the town of Pindamonhangaba (state of Sao Paulo) on 18 August 2008 after 12 days' travel. The two commemorative stamps were issued to celebrate 200 years of establishing two schools of medicine (Faculdade de medicina de UFRJ and Facultade de medicina de Bahía) and both feature a part of the Hippocratic oath. The third self-adhesive stamp of RS 0.20 depicts a clarinet.

By the way, I noticed that Brazilian self-adhesives (along with those of the USA) are very difficult, or even impossible, to soak off the paper. It seems the glue used is not soluble in water.

Thank you A. for this great card!

Cover from Brazil

This letter reached me today after 14 days of travel from Rio de Janeiro. I am not sure if "economico" means that it did not go by air. Anyway, if it sailed the Atlantic by boat, it arrived pretty quickly (in my opinion, from a position of a person living in a landlocked country).
The long stamp (RS 0,60) from 2008 commemorates the 100th anniversary of birth of the Brazilian writer Joao Guimaraes Rosa whose books have been translated also to Czech. The other stamp (RS 0,40) was issued for Christmas in 2001. Thank you T.!