  We built K band extinction maps in the area of two candidate low-extinction
windows in the inner Bulge: W0.2-2.1 at (l,b) = (0.25o,-2.15o), and W359.4-3.1
at (l,b) = (359.40o,-3.10o). We employed JHKs photometry from the 2MASS Point
Source Catalog. Extinction values were determined by fitting the upper giant
branch found in the present 2MASS Ks x J-Ks diagrams to a de-reddened bulge
stellar population reference giant branch. We tested the method on the well
known Baade's and Sgr I windows: the 2MASS mean extinction values in these
fields agreed well with those of previous studies. We confirm the existence of
low-extinction windows in the regions studied, as local minima in the A_K maps
reaching A_K values about 2 standard deviations below the mean values found in
the neighbouring areas. Schlegel et al.'s (1998) FIR extinction maps, which
integrate dust contributions throughout the Galaxy, are structurally similar to
those derived with 2MASS photometry in the two studied windows. We thus
conclude that the dust clouds affecting the 2MASS and FIR maps in these
directions are basically the same and are located on foreground of the bulk of
bulge stars. However, the A_K absolute values differ significantly. In
particular, the FIR extinction values for W359.4-3.1 are a factor ~1.45 larger
than those derived from the 2MASS photometry. Possible explanations of this
effect are discussed. The lower Galactic latitudes of the low-extinction
windows W359.4-3.1 and W0.2-2.1, as compared to Baade's Window, make them
promising targets for detailed studies of more central bulge regions.
