Locat­ed about 45 kilo­me­ters from Man­agua, it is known as the “town of pot­ters,” and the arti­sans here have been cre­at­ing beau­ti­ful pieces out of clay since before the Span­ish con­quis­ta­dors invad­ed the region. Upon enter­ing the small town, which has a beau­ti­ful set­ting over­look­ing the Masaya lagoon, you’ll see dozens of pot­tery shops. The major­i­ty of peo­ple here earn their liv­ing cre­at­ing col­or­ful works of art and are very friend­ly and hap­py to share their work and the sto­ries behind it with trav­el­ers. Most of the shops are fam­i­­ly-run affairs, with one mem­ber in charge of the carv­ing and design, anoth­er over­see­ing the kiln, and a third pol­ish­ing the fin­ished prod­uct.