Latin American Lifestyle and Art (LALA): La Campa and Lenca Pottery

On Wednesday Allan and I return to La Campa. We have an appointment to meet Felicia Santos who, together with her sons, runs the “Alfareria Lenca de La Campa” – the official sales point for the potters cooperative in La Campa. There is only one way in to La Campa by car, an unpaved deeply rutted road from Gracias (about 18kms away). It winds through the low mountain range occasionally fording a shallow stream before dropping into the valley in which La Campa is situated. The village of La Campa is small and surrounded by thickly wooded mountains and sheer rock faces. The air is dry and hot during the day and cool at night. The village is situated around a dusty “parque central” on which three single-story municipal buildings are located. The biggest structure (by far) in La Campa is the 18th century Spanish church whose impressive façade dominates the parque central. It reminds me of a wild west movie set I once saw at Universal Studios - the elaborate façade is propped up in the wilderness with a much smaller functional structure behind it. The valley is crisscrossed by a handful of dirt roads (on which houses are located and which eventually fade off into the bushland) and a stream which trickles quietly over smooth river stones. We arrive at the cooperative shop at 9am and Felicia greets us warmly.

This is the home of the Lenca people, population approximately 5,000 (total remaining population of the Honduran Lenca is estimated at 100,000). The town has a sleepy peaceful feeling. We have arrived on the final day of a three-day religious festival to honour the town’s patron saint, San Cristobal, and many of the La Campa inhabitants are at the Catholic church. The echo of canon fire is the only sound which (rather startlingly) breaks the quiet – this is something I have heard before during Catholic holidays in Central America and it’s impossible not to be startled at the sharp initial crack. The remnants of the three-day festival are evident. Market stalls yet to be broken down, limp paper streamers hanging from trees, bags of rubbish carefully collected into piles, and stacked crates of empty soft drink (soda) bottles. We comment on the absence of beer bottle crates and are informed that La Campa is an alcohol-free town. Felecia tells us it is by mutual agreement of the residents and more-or-less self-governed. “We are a poor people” she says. “If someone is spending money on alcohol is means children are not getting fed. It will not help our community. It will not make our lives better”.

Unfortunately (for us) the religious holiday means the wood-fired kilns are closed for the day. However we are able to see the other steps in the process and later spend a happy hour looking through the beautiful examples of Lenca pottery is the store. The cooperative store accepts only the finest examples of pottery from accomplished artisans. There are more “rustic” (as Felicia puts it) selections available in smaller Alfarerias on the outskirts of town. I find it amazing that this pottery, stunning in its simplicity and symmetry, is made entirely by hand with no tools bar river stones (for achieving a polished finish) and dried corn husks (for achieving a slightly textured or combed finish). All the clay and pigment (from which the red paint is made) is mined from the earth around the village and always has been. It accounts for the distinguishing colours of traditional Lenca pottery , ranging from a pale pink terracotta (in its natural state) to a dark earthy red (when “painted” by smearing on coats of red pigment). The fine pale dust that we have been struggling to remove from mouth, hair and clothes since our arrival is key and apparently very specific to the local area – after manually sifting and pounding the dirt to achieve a smooth fine-grained consistency, water is added the clay manually worked by use of hand and foot until the clay is ready. The clay has a firm cool feel which resists the initial pressure of the hand. When ready to work, it is slightly sticky and peels away from the palm with some resistance. In the hands of one of these skilled artists, the clay is formed, with equal success, into tiny detailed beads or free-standing pots as tall a 1.5 metres. The traditional Lenca pottery is purely functional in intent: water pitchers, platters, tortilla dishes, braziers, soup bowls, spoons, cooking dishes. All pieces can be used for hot and cold liquids and used for cooking on direct flame or in oven. The pottery is amazingly light and strong. A water pitcher containing at least 2 litres of water is lifted again and again without apparent strain on the handle.

After examining many pieces, and with Felicias guidance, I am able to discern subtle differences in the workmanship (or rather workwomanship) and narrow my buying choices down. I favor the pieces with well-rounded and symmetrical form. A fine-textured clay and a smooth, high polish to the finish. Smooth edges over scalloped or otherwise adorned. Multiple consistent applications of pigment to achieve a deeply burnished red colour. I prefer the plain pot to the one on which white paint has been decoratively applied with a feather. I find there is one artists in particular who is creating ceramics in the style in which I prefer. We get directions to her workshop and are happy to meet Mercedes , her daughters and gorgeous 8-year old granddaughter, Mercy. I spend another hour, deeply content, carefully comparing one (nearly identical) piece to another and finally selecting what I want. Allan bears all this with his trade-mark good humor and happily translates between Mercedes and myself. As is the tradition, Mercedes is training her daughters, nieces and granddaughter in the art. Mercy proudly shows me her work: two small figurines of bird and turtle and a string of beads. She insists on me taking them as a gift.

We load the Ranger and drive directly back to Tegucigalpa. For most of the 6 hour drive I am fearful for my precious cargo as we bounce and jolt over the rough roads, rarely exceeding speeds of 20km/hour. Earl y the next morning we go in search of packing supplies to send the pottery on its way to Roatan (via the port city of La Ceiba) and I spend the next 3 hour carefully repacking everything to try and limit breakage in transit. I am delighted to find there was not one piece broken on the drive back from La Campa and determined not to lose any on the next leg of the journey. The round trip has taken 4 days, more than I originally planned, but in my eyes it has been more than worthwhile to experience the Lenca culture and find such a special and unique product for LALA. Finally we just make the 4pm deadline to ship the boxes and, after a celebratory steak dinner with Allan, I am early to bed in preparation for the long road to Guatemala on Friday.