Ilobasco


Ilobasco is a municipality in the Cabañas department of El Salvador. It is located 30 miles northeast of the capital, San Salvador.
This town is known country wide for its clay craftsmanship or pottery.
The clay is extracted and prepared locally. The clay work includes the "miniatures", which are small representations of daily scenes as lived by Salvadorans, no bigger than 2 inches tall. The Town is also home for second division soccer team El Roble.
One version of the miniatures are the "surprises", which are basically a scene covered with another piece of clay shaped and painted in the form of a fruit, an egg, a house or other things. The cover can be removed and then the scene can be seen.

Toponymy

The actual origin and meaning of its name is unknown, most of the proposed names are nahuatl, such as: Xilohuako, Xilotlaxko, Xilotazoko. A document found on December 1859 affirms that the name is native and it means "Golden Thread" but origin of this word is unknown.

Sports

The local football club is El Roble, formerly known as A.F.I. They currently play in the Salvadoran Second Division.