Pomaire

Let's catch up again, shall we?

A looonng time ago I went to this teeny tiny little village called Pomaire about an hour outside of Santiago. Pomaire is known for its pottery. In fact, pottery throwing is practically the only industry in the town. Everything in Pomaire hinges on this type of mineral clay called greda. Problem is greda is very difficult to extract from the earth because, at its easiest, the stuff lives about a foot down in the soil, usually  more. So the story with greda in Pomaire is the same story told about every mineral rich product the earth has to offer, which is to say that people used it like there was a never ending supply and now they're running out and instead of being a practical material now it's been converted into an artisanal one. Either way...the trip was frickin' fun.

Follow the greda brick road to Pomaire! 

We arrived there at about 10 in the morning and this guy:

had already done this:

Greda is a really great material for making bricks because it bakes at a fairly low temperature. These bricks are allowed to sun dry for 24 hours. Then they get piled by this guy:

into this:

(note: no colors were altered in these pictures, how crazy is that blue and gold background?!)

They stack the bricks in a pyramid with charcoal bits in between each layer, cover it with mud, and light a fire under it. No special kiln required! The fire burns for 48 hours and when all is said and done you have some fine fully cooked bricks ready to build with. Nifty, huh?

My group was lucky enough to be fed breakfast (homemade bread, jam, tea, and milk straight from the cow!) (I want a cow!) and take a pottery class with a family in Pomaire that has been in the biz for more than 50 years.

Then we had time to shop around the town a bit and see the pottery available for purchase. I found everything from the practical:

to the frivolous:

(standing casserole dish) 

Including these mildly offensive figurines!

Ah, well! Not everyone can be as racially evolved as the U.S. pretends to be. Speaking of the United States' lack of racial progress, check this out:

Did you watch it? Stop reading if you didn't watch it. You're no longer welcome here until you've watched it. 

Alright anyways, I digress. I wasn't intending to turn this into a rant, so back to Pomaire...

There is incredible fresh food there because it's in the countryside. These eggs were laid by chickens the same day that I photographed them, sigh. 

This is an empanada. It's big enough to easily fit a 1 year old infant inside. That is not what's in there (I'm positive), but you get the idea. It's large.

Chicha is part beer + part wine + part ? and 100% delicious. This stuff was handmade in small batches like everything else in Pomaire. 

The gang.

It was a great time overall. Pomaire has no shortage of charm. Hopefully I'll get to go back before my time in Chile is up.