COVER N. 786 - BRASIL

Postmark: A C Central de SE/SPM 17.08.2026

Posted on the 17th August;  Received on the 2nd November 2026

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Talk about Snail Mail.... 2.5 months from Brazil to Portugal... nothing should justify it, since there are on average 5 daily flights from S. Paulo to Lisbon.... anyway, Muito Obrigado, Luis.  A carta  chegou tarde, mas chegou, e isso é o que importa 😀.

Some of the stamps on this cover had already been featured in another of Luis' letters, so I'll just replicate my notes for them:

- Ginásio Pernambucano is the oldest school in Brazil, having been functioning uninterruptedly since 1825, that is 200 years ago.

First located at Convento do Carmo, (Carmo Convent) in Recife, a Carmelite run convent, it occupied several facilities until finally being established in a purpose built building where it has been functioning since 1866, still in the city of Recife, the capital city of the State of Pernambuco.

Celebrating its 200th anniversary, Correios do Brasil issued a 3,7 Reais stamp on 01DEC2025, illustrated with an image of the building and the official logo of the institution.

- Think "Garota de Ipanema", the immortal song authored by Tom Jobim and Vinicius de Morais with a beat that in its essence is a watered down samba and there is Bossa Nova for you, the genre that became so popular in the 60s that it transcended frontiers with stars like Frank Sinatra or Ella Fitzgerald including it in their repertoire.

On 22NOV2025, Correios do Brasil issued a 3,70 Reais stamp celebrating this relevant musical genre, the stamp design clearly highlighting its Carioca origins trough the inclusion of the two main hills that dominate Rio de Janeiro's landscape, - the Pão de Açucar and the Corcovado -  over a shinning sun (summer for all) and a guitar in the foreground, the instrument that was at the forefront of Bossa Nova's creation.

- The shoemaker stamp, (0,20 R$) is part of the first set of three stamps of the Professions definitive series,  issued between 2005 and 2011. It was issued on 30DEC2005.

- According to an entry in Wikipedia, Marajó cheese is a type of fresh cheese made with Buffalo milk that has been traditionally produced for over 200 years in the Marajó archipelago, in the state of Pará.

It is featured on the 1,03 reais stamp on the cover, it being one of the 8 same denomination stamps issued on 25JUL2021 in mini-sheet format, dedicated to the Cheeses of Brazil.

As usual on Luis' covers, the postmark hails from the central Post Office from the city of São Paulo.