Pomaire

Pomaire has made pottery from the local clay for centuries, and it is the source of most of the earthenware in Chilean kitchens - the black-brown fired pots, dishes and the small three-legged pig that turns up as a good luck object in houses across the country. The workshops are open onto the street and the whole main road is potters and their kilns, with clay dug from deposits around the village. It is also known for its restaurants: the standard Sunday trip from Santiago is pottery in the morning and an enormous empanada or a pastel de choclo at lunch, and the portions are the joke everyone repeats.

What you actually see

• Workshops open to the street - potters working local clay.
• Black-brown Chilean earthenware - in kitchens across the country.
• The three-legged lucky pig - the village's best known object.
• A Sunday eating trip - enormous empanadas and pastel de choclo.

When to go

Year round; weekends are when everything is open and busiest. Half a day.

Honest expectations

Weekends are crowded with day trippers from Santiago and the main street is a queue of cars. Much of what is sold is now made for visitors rather than for use. Restaurants fill at lunch. Clay is heavy to carry home.

Nearby

Melipilla is east; the coast at San Antonio is west.