Little Chile chatter

Once upon a time an impoverished English artist met a pretty Chilean student in a Bristol cafe, La Ruca, and they fell in love over the delicious cakes. The artist's parents were invited to Chile and they fell in love with the country. His mum was already running a market stall. Her eyes lit up when she saw the markets in Chile. Suitcases were filled and Little Chile was born.

BBC's Radio 4's Today program has been looking at what makes a good high street. One morning they focused on the Gloucester Road in Bristol. You'll never guess where they decided to broadcast from. The La Ruca cafe.

Fair trade
We wanted this little enterprise to be run in a fair trade way.
Checking with the Fair Trade standards I think we have almost achieved it.
We pay the price our producers ask and don't ask them to make things cheaper. We pay in advance if asked. We are forging partnerships (which are turning into friendships) that we all hope will grow to everyone's benefit. Being small and often made from renewable resources (wool, grass, gourds) the goods are made in an environmental way. Our Chilean makers and Peruvian market sellers are happy that our deals are socially and economically fair.The last thing we need to do is to make contact with the ladies in the Peruvian Andies who are knitting our puppets and weaving our baskets to ask if there is anything we can do to enhance their lives and those of their children. We are hoping our next visit to South America will include a holiday in Peru and we can get to meet them.

Crema de caracol
In Chile I was given 2 gifts. One was a lucky soap with a magic bean from the Amazon and the other was a 'miracle cream' made from snail slime. We would have loved to sell you these items but the red tape has defeated us. If you would like to know more about the crema de caracol (the snail slime cream) click here.