Guaitil is a small village situated near Real Surf Trips between Nicoya and Santa Cruz in the province of Guanacaste. It is famous for its art of making unique pottery all through Central America. The local potters have been making pottery using traditional techniques passed down to them by their ancestors. They make some of the best ceramics in the country which they sell to tourists, local people and use themselves.
The pottery practice was started by the native Chorotegas community. They are the main indigenous culture in Costa Rica. The community of Guaitil is fully dedicated to the pottery culture as it is really their main source of income. They have continued the pottery tradition by passing the secrets of making pottery from one generation to another.
The pottery is made from local clay and is used to make items like clay pots, jars, vases, pitchers and many other pottery crafts. Tourists looking forward to visiting this small village have a lot of options when it comes to choosing a unique locally made souvenir to take home with them. You can often find them selling their pottery in the town park.
When making pottery, time and crafting expertise is needed. To make pottery, they first dry the clay. They later smash it to a powdered form and mix it with sand. The sand is a special type of freshwater sand that, quite often, the iguanas lay their eggs in. Later the mixture is shaped, painted and polished to shine with a sukia stone. It is then left out to dry before it is placed in a firewood oven as its final process.
Despite the fact that globalization has taken over, the Chorotegas community still uses traditional crafting when making their pottery. The practice is over 800 years old! Regardless of the world having other top producers of the same products in the world they still stand proud and unique in their traditional pottery making ways.
Interested in checking out the town and Guaitil pottery during your Costa Rica vacation? We can arrange that for you!