Mexico and Belize

North America-Mexico-Cozumel  Its cruise time agin. This time North and Central America. First stop is Cozumel. Only my second time to Mexico. Here you see a Carnival cruise liner in port. The same type of ship I was on. 

The last time it took over 5 months for my postcard to reach home. Well this time a lot better about 4 weeks. A definitive stamp , no selection available in the Post office. 

Central America-Belize-Belize City  A country I had been wanting to visit for a long time. Reason being is that I have a specialised stamp collection of British Honduras its former name and Belize.  The city itself is certainly nothing to write home about. But they do have a very interesting museum featuring a stamp collection of Belize. 

Visiting the Post office here something I had looked forward to. I had seen many images from the stamps . But was disappointed when I got here. The old Colonial Post office had burned down a few years ago. Now it was  a very basic wooden building as so many are here. The Philatelic section is around the corner in the main post office. It was great to visit the staff there as I used to have an account . Unfortunately none of the staff had worked there long enough for me to discuss the big changes that Belize Philatelic bureau had gone through in the 1980s. They changed from the Crown Agents to a different company and before I knew it they were issuing more stamps then I could count. Unusually they were still mostly themed on Belize and not just the usual generic stamps featuring rock starts. The creme a la creme are the definitive issues with different overprints. Many were local and were not available to collectors. So some are very rare despite the low catalogue value. Here you see a localy overprinted stamp. I am not sure if this stamp even made it into catalogues yet. 

North America

North America-United States of America-San Francisco  The Golden Gate bridge what a sight day or night. San  Francisco what a great American city. Love those trolley cars . I think I first fell in love with the city when I seen the movie as a kid, " The Love bug ". With that beetle car  named Herbie. My Dad told me to visit and mentioned Fisherman's wharf. 

Henri Mancini and John Wayne. Well I have to say "Days of Wine and Roses "  and" Breakfast at Tiffany's" are two of my favourite pieces of music to listen to. What a great composer. There is John Wayne standing tall on the other stamp. 

North America-Mexico-Puerto Vallarta  Well this is a photo of the Westin Hotel in PV.  I had a great time here and spend most of the time leaning how to Scuba dive. Well the sea was warm and a great location. So success, I can now go underwater! PV was very pleasant and it was pure rest and relaxation. 

I mailed this postcard on Oct 1, it got postmarked on October 20 and I got it in December. What do the Mexicans do with the mail? Talk about slow ... 

North America-United States of America -Chicago  This postcard shows the John Hancock centre and offers a beautiful view of Chicago skyline. The museums there are excellent. 

A nice clear postmark from Chicago.  I like these two stamps. Disney stamps are always fun and it is great to see United States promoting fun stamps. Also important is the education that stamps can convey, which is very evident in the second stamp, "stop family violence".