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Lifestyles Profile - Don Manuel Fregoso "This is black clay from Oaxaca and from Oaxaca also are the alebrijes (those imaginary, colorful wooden monsters). All of the clay terra cota crocks are made in Nayarit; some of the baskets (like those tall ones called chiquihuites (super for a dirty laundry hamper) are from Michoacán, and the colored ones from Guerrero." The blown-glass, everybody knows, is from Guadalajara while the yellow and blue Talavera is from Guanajuato. Those quaint lamps made of clay with holes cut out in all shapes are made in Vallarta as are the pots whose insides are filled with the goodies of the traditional piñata (so what if they are a little dangerous, it makes it's definitely more exciting). So goes a tour with Alfarería Tlaquepaque's founder don Manuel Fregoso, who 46 years ago opened this now landmark store with his first wife Genoveva (now deceased). Beginning from a little shop in the corner of 31 de Octubre and Morelos, his family (including his wife of two years, Guadalupe) now owns the store on Avenida México, the bodega across the street and a furniture store close by. Going from one display rack to the next is equivalent to a mini-tour of this varied and creative country and its culinary delights. There are pots for cooking beans, stone molcajetes (mortars) for grounding spices and making the best salsas, and clay comales (thin pans) for tortillas. There are also tokens of sophisticated cultures in the copies of deities whose likeness were depicted in colored clay, and in the shape of nice fat pigs the symbols of an excellent habit. According to don Manuel it is through "reasonable prices and good service" that they have thrived in a town now swamped with artesanías shops.

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