COVER N. 529 - ARGENTINA

Postmark: Correo Argentino Santos Tesei NIS B0035 Pedro Diaz 444 B1688ZAA 31.10.2024

Posted on the 31st October; Received on the 7th November 2024

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"You've got to be kidding..", thought I... 

Adding all the face values on the stamps on this cover, both front and back I came to a total of  8,600 pesos.  

Now this didn't mean much, as I didn't know the exchange rate for Argentinian currency. So I hopped to Xe currency converter on the internet and typed in the 8,600 on the left box, asking for a conversion to my own Euros. 

And I got a result of 8 Euros!!!!!! Damn... how can this be true...? just to think that to send a humble rectangle of paper across the ocean in my direction someone would have to pay this enormous amount of money is enough to make me want to apologise to that person, and a sure measure of how some people have it amazingly hard to pursue such an innocent hobby as mine.

I know traditional mail has dwindled in later years due to us writing one another with bits of electricity, but mail companies and postal administrations have found ways of compensating for that with the increased number of parcel transactions and diversifications of services they provide.

And I also know that inflation is a tiger whose cage is sometimes very hard to close, but to think that to send an international letter one has to spend about 5% of the national average monthly wage (according to official  data cited here) is mind-blowing, to say the least.

Some countries share traditions, other share languages, some religious affinity, others political affinity, but some do share matter of wonder, and so do Argentina and Colombia, it seems. What best to share than to be blessed with the joy of having in  our waters some of the most impressive creatures that inhabit our planet?

Whales, the biggest mammals on Earth and they peacefully roam the waters of the oceans that bathe Argentina and Colombia.

The  Southern Right Whale (Eubalena australis) is dweller of the seas, south of the Equator and close to Antarctica, being thus present in Argentinean waters. 

Before the global hunting ban, its population was calculated in 1999 to be of  7500 individuals, but since hunting stopped it has been growing at a rate of 7% a year.

Adults can measure up to 18 m in length and weigh up to 90 tons.

Humpback whales are present in virtually every ocean of this world and can be found in latitudes up to 81º N, so it is possible to see them both in Argentinean and Colombian waters.

Diplomatic relations between Argentina and Colombia were established by treaty on the 8th May, 1825.

To mark the passing of the 200th anniversary of the treaty, the Postal Administrations of both countries created  a joint issue which began to circulate on 29JUL2024, highlighting whales as a common heritage, cherished by both countries.

The full Argentinean issue was used on the cover and the two 2300 Pesos stamps feature  photographs of:

-  a Humpback whale (stamp on the left), with a legend containing the Spanish and scientific names of the species and a silver ink silhouette with the indication of the typical  size the animal can reach and the information that the photo was taken at the National Natural Park of Gorgona, Colombia;

- a Southern right whale, the legends and silhouette now relating to this particular species and indicating that the photo was taken at Península Valdés, Chubut, Argentina.

- the infamous 8,600 Pesos postage rate was completed with two 2,000 Pesos, stamps on the back of the cover, with a photograph of the Campo San Juan Federal Park, part of the 2023 issue of the definitive series dedicated to national parks, initiated in 2019.

The postmark indicates that the cover was sent from the post office at Santos Tesei, a town in the outskirts of Buenos Aires.