Barro negro from Trova Imports is made in the state of Oaxaca, Mexico outside Oaxaca city in San Bartolo Coyotepec. The mud (barro) is brought down from the mountains of the Sierra Madre de Oaxaca on the back of mules. Originally orange, in color, the mud is soaked in water for days to weeks or until it is the right consistency for molding pottery (candle holders, vases, decorative figures, and hudreds of more objects) using primitive tools such as bottle tops, points of pens, nails, ect. Once the object has been molded, it is placed in a kiln, where through oxidation, the orange mud turns black. It is then polished and sold in the market.
The barro negro industry supports the indigenous communities in San Bartolo. Most of the barro negro in Oaxaca comes from San Bartolo Coyotepec.
In Nicaragua has its own barro negro called ceramica negra. The process for making the pottery is the same, but the designs are different. This pottery comes from Mategalpa, Nicaragua, and it also supports the local artisans in preserving thier art and traditions.
Monimbo is a bario that is an artisan community in the city of Masaya. The products produced by the people of Monimbo can be found in the mercado principal in the city of Masaya. The artisans are experts at making hammocks, leather products, textiles, furniture, and a variety of hats. While walking through the neighborhood of Monimbo a person can hear the carpenters cutting their wood for furniture, cobblers hammering away at a sole of a shoe, and smell the leather of someone making a purse, shoe, or saddle. It is a very special place.
Carpentry & Furniture
Hammocks
Leather Products
Shoes
Textiles
Hats
Trova hopes to one day offer these products on its website to help support the economies of the indigenous community of Monimbo. If you are interested in any of these products, please contact us and let us know.
Lago Apoyo is a beautiful crater lake outside of Masaya, Nicaragua. Although it is normally expensive, David and Barbara, from Austria, and I were able to put up our hammocks on the banks of the lake at the house of Cesar. He was happy to have us, and we were able to share our time at the lake with his beautiful family.
The lake is supposedly the cleanest water in Central America. Motorized boats are not allowed, and the people, like in all of Nicaragua are very friendly.
Four years ago I bought a house and started an import company of hand-made products from Latin America. The first trip was in my 1976 VW bus from Austin, Texas to Merida, Yucatan. On the way, I hit a buzzard, the roof blew off the top of my bus, and my accelerator broke in the middle of Tampico (Luckily my buddy Q told me to take an extra cable). I ended up at the border with a bus full of hammocks and no broker. Picture a line in the X-ray machine consisting of 18-wheeler, 18-wheeler, VW, 18-wheeler, 18-wheeler, etc.
During the adventure and frustration of starting a company, I also refurbished a house where I lived in the root cellar for six months while I got rid of the termites and finished one room to put a mattress on the floor. The idea was for me to rent out the house while I traveled to Latin America setting up contacts for Trova. Four years later the dream lives on, and I am renting out the house and, once again, moving all of my belongings into the root cellar.
Trova Imports was started to promote the economies of indigenous communities of Latin America. All of Trova’s products are fairly traded helping to sustain the economies, art, and traditions of the indigenous communities of Latin America.
Welcome to the TrovaBlog. This blog will focus primarily on the economies of indigenous communities in Central America and Mexico starting January 1, 2009. The blog will be maintained by Blake Smith President of Trova Imports Inc. www.trovaimports.com He will be record indigenous economies and communities in Nicaragua, Honduras, Guatemala, and Mexico until March 2009.
