cover from the USA with many cards inside

Last Tuesday I got two covers including one from the USA.

Used for postage were two complete stamp sets about the T-Rex (issued 29-08-2019) and Flowers from the Garden (issued 16-08-2017), of which the latter were unfortunately partly covered by a label.

Inside were many wonderful postcards from Mexico and the USA.

The first card from Mexico shows a Mariachi singer. Mariachi is a genre of Regional Mexican music that dates back to at least the 18th century and that is internationally for sure the most famous genre of Mexican music. Since 2011 is Mariachi an Intangible Heritage of the UNESCO. The most special part of this card is the backside. A wonderful stamp of the Día de Muertos (issued 31-10-2017) was used on it, which was cancelled with a special postmark about the Postcrossing Meet-up in Mexico City earlier this year. Although I always try to be up to date with the Postcrossing postmarks (I make a list of them on the Postcrossing Forum), I have never seen this one before.

The second Mexican card shows a map of the Camino Real de Tierra Adentro. The Camino Real de Tierra Adentro was an historic trade route active from 1598 to 1882 connecting Mexico City and San Juan Pueblo, which is now in the USA. Its main purpose was the transport of silver and mercury, but it also created social, cultural and religious links between Spanish and Amerindian cultures. Since 2010 is the Mexican part of the Camino Real de Tierra Adentro on the UNESCO World Heritage List. Also this card got the Postcrossing postmark on the backside. As stamp was used a definitive about handicrafts issued in 2018.

Crossing the border with the USA the Camino Real de Tierra Adentro becomes a National Historic Trail. The Bosque del Apache National Wildlife Refuge in New Mexico is along this trail. A Peccary from this wildlife refuge is shown on the first US card, which on the backside got a stamp with a lynx (issued 01-06-2012) and some cancels from places along the Camino Real de Tierra Adentro.

The Taos Pueblo in New Mexico is shown on the next three cards. On the UNESCO World Heritage List since 1992, it is an ancient pueblo belonging to a Taos-speaking Native American tribe of Puebloan people and is considered to be one of the oldest continuously inhabited communities in the USA. On the backside the first card got yet another Postcrossing postmark. This one is about a US meet-up from 2018. The stamp used is quite old and shows the journalist Joel Chandler Harris (issued 09-12-1948).

Next up is a set of six detachable postcards about the Chaco Culture National Historical Park in New Mexico. The Chaco Culture National Historical Park is home to a concentration of pueblos considered to be one of the most important pre-Columbian cultural and historical areas in the USA. It is since 1987 on the UNESCO World Heritage List. All six cards have backside three cancels from the park.

The Death Valley National Park is probably one of the most famous national parks in the USA. Famous for being one of the hottest places in the World, this card also shows other parts of the park. It is interesting to learn that the second-lowest point in the Western Hemisphere, Badwater Basin, is located in this park, which is actually also the largest national park in the contiguous USA. Also it was designated as a dark sky park in 2013. On the backside of the card is a postmark from the park.

The Carlsbad Caverns National Park in New Mexico is famous for its show cave, Carlsbad Cavern. Established as national park in 1930, it is also a UNESCO World Heritage Site since 1995.

After so much history and nature, there was also a card of buzzing New York City with the Brooklyn Bridge and Williamsburg Bridge in the cover.

Last but definitely not least, the cover also included three postcards about Roadrunners. I mainly know this bird from its fight with Wile E. Coyote in the Looney Tunes cartoons, so it is nice to learn some things about the actual bird. For example that it kills prey by holding the victim in its bill and slamming it repeatedly against the ground or that it drinks no water. Also it is the State Bird of New Mexico and is known as Clown of the Desert. The first of these cards again has on the backside the US Postcrossing postmark from 2018. The stamp is again very old and this time shows Edgar Allan Poe (issued 07-10-1949).

Thank You very much Sam-Quito!