Hey,
were in a small town in nicaragua called masaya,its close to granada.Since we are heading back to el salvador in a few days we have been doing a lot of shopping for souvenirs and gifts since masaya is a artisan town.The coolest thing for me has been the pottery,we were able to go in to a potters house-workspace and watch them make there pottery pluse (try) to make one our- selfs.The steps to making a nicaraguan potters piece is,

(1)find the clay.

(2) since the clay is not very good and comes in a more like dirt then clay texture they most need for almost 2 hours before it becomes a clay-like substance.

(3) they must throw the clay,this is almost the most difficult part since their wheel is not electric but by foot,the guys who work there say after awhile it is very easy and the foot hand coordination is no problem(for us it was nearly impossible and my pot wrecked several times)

(4) they put the pot in a plastic bag to keep it moist and carve on it on and off for about 1 week.

(5) the pot is fired for about 2 days.

(6) they paint it.

(7) the final step of the process is the pot goes in their brick kiln for about one week before being shipped to the united states or sold at their local markets.

for me watching this was amazing and even more so making one, it was extremely difficult and my pot broke several times on the wheel and I was unable to take it off without it braking.

VIENNA