Leaving Oxkutzcab, it's a short distance (less than 20 km) to Ticul. I'm going to try something new here, this is a link to a Google Map of the area. You should be able to see my bookmarks from this trip and zoom in and out.

Ticul is a county seat, the capital of the Municipalidad, so a little larger town. It is known for 2 things, women's shoes and low-fired clay pots. Odd combo, huh?

First off, we stopped on the 'street of shoes' so Paula could look around. The prices are really good and the street was full of parked cars with men sitting in them alone. The stores were full of women shopping for shoes.

Poor Paula, I swear she broke out in a sweat. She couldn't decide, there were too many and too little time. She decided she wanted to come back - probably alone - when she could spend more time looking.

Then we found the 'street of pots' and started looking around. I liked the pots in one place and the woman there said we could go to the factory if we followed her. Off we went behind her scooter to the place they were made. It was a large factory, with 2 kilns and a half dozen people working.

These are wood fired kilns, low temperature means the pot is not as sturdy as high-fired ones - at least, that's what I've been told. These are good, basic garden pots though. They do paint them which seals them a bit. They also recommend that you paint the inside with the same sealer that is commonly used on roofs here.

One of the kilns was cooling, they don't move the stacked pots until they are cool to avoid cracking. Mimi got down in the opening and got a picture of how they are stacked. Amazing.

We filled our little Toyota truck with 6 large pots. As we were driving away, I realized I forgot to bargain! I really meant to do some bargaining on the prices since we bought so many but I completely forgot. I'll be back for more so I'll try and get a better price next time. I was happy with the price but since I have no basis for what they cost I might have been making the fatal mistake of using NOB prices as a comparison.

The largest were 60cm x 60cm (2' x 2') and cost $380 pesos ($28us) and $280p ($20us), the medium sized were $150 to $230 ($11 to $17us). My total for all 6 was $1590 pesos ($115.50us). Today or tomorrow I need to buy some impermeable and paint the inside before we plant our little tree.

Ticul is a very Mayan town, there are several small pyramids and many artifacts along the roads. This one was really nice.

I really enjoy searching out things I need that are made locally. It satisfies the hunter/gatherer in me and is a lot more fun than just going to Target.