Carmen sits with her American guests in her high-walled yellow stucco restaurant off the main square in the small Chilean lake town of Vichuquén. She speaks in the lilt of hospitality, equal parts intimate and formal. Early autumn light covers the large country tables. The shutters are open. The air is soft. The menu is simple. The food welcomes us home in this new land. At Carmen’s table, we become a little bit Chilean.
We are here with Florencia Mesa of Balloon Latam, a non-profit organization that supports rural micro-entrepreneurs like Carmen. Florencia oversees Balloon Latam’s “vinculación ecosistémica”; she supports and connects the networks of micro entrepreneurs in the Maule, Arucanía, and Patagonia regions. Over the next twenty-four hours, she will take us into the lives of seven independent artisans living and working in the Maule region south of Santiago. A restaurant, an artists’ studio, nature walks, a line of eco-detergent, a dressmaker’s workshop, a hydroponic organic farm. These are not businesses; they are manifestations.