JPG: Stories: Photo Essay: The postal adventures of a Kyrgyz saddle

The postal adventures of a Kyrgyz saddle

By Jane Keeler

28 Dec 2008

Near the end of October, a week before I was due to leave Kyrgyzstan, I decided to go to the central post office to ship home the wooden saddle that I'd bought for my mom (it was the one thing she'd asked me to buy for her while I was there). I also figured that would be as good a time as any to mail my absentee ballot.

I dragged the saddle all the way downtown and had the woman in the post office give me a quote as to how much it would cost to ship – nearly $100. I'd paid $14 for the thing. Grrr. I went across the street to change money and came back to discover the postal woman debating with some man whether or not I should be allowed to ship this antique saddle out of the country. On the one hand, it might very well be an antique. On the other hand, I paid $14 for it, so it couldn't be *that* valuable, now could it? I expressed that opinion, and they decided that I had a pretty good point. I was allowed to ship the saddle.

It took more than an hour for the woman to package up the saddle. First she made a custom sized box out of cardboard. After taping it up around the saddle, she sewed a custom fit cloth sleeve for the box, which she then hand-stitched shut and sealed with hot wax.

She told me how much I owed, and I asked how much it would be to send my envelope (containing my absentee ballot) as well. Her response? "The envelope is in the box with the saddle. They're going to the same address, right?" In the box? Are you kidding me? It had taken so long to package the damn saddle that I wasn't about to make her do it again (although from the look on her face, she wouldn't have agreed to do it even if I'd insisted), but dammit! That was my Barack Obama ballot!

Luckily, I returned to the US in time to explain my situation to the voting registrar, and I was allowed to vote. Nearly two months later, after my mother and I had given up all hope of it ever arriving, the package appeared on our front porch on Christmas Eve. My mother was thrilled to receive her saddle, and I was excited by the opportunity to take some shots of the hand stitching and wax seals. Enjoy!