ing of Chile is American Douglas Tompkins,rna former owner of the Espirit andrnNorth Face companies and a devotee ofrn”deep ecology” environmentalism. Fourrnyears ago, Tompkins began quietly buyingrnup parcels of forested land 100 kilometersrnto the south of Puerto Montt, forrnthe purpose of creating a private nationalrnpark. By the time the governmentrncaught on to his plans, he had becomernthe second largest private landowner inrnthe country, with a domain stretchingrnfrom the Argentine border to the PacificrnOcean.rnThe resulting controversy has broughtrnabout an illuminating convergence of issues.rnEven though the neoliberal (in thernsense of “liberal” used everywhere exceptrnthe United States) Chilean constitutionrnpromotes the security of private property,rna wide variety of politicians from conservativesrnleftward have objected tornTompkins’ plans on pro-developmentrnand economic-nationalist grounds, andrnthe armed forces have talked about thernstrategic value of his border properties.rnWhen I brought the topic up with commonrnChileans, I heard a variety of conspiracyrntheories, most of them surroundingrnthe notion that Tompkins is bent onrncreating an exclusive society like the infamousrnColonia Dignidad, founded afterrnWorld War II by a group of Germanrnemigres.rnOn the cultural frontier, Chileansrnwork rather hard to maintain the outwardrnappearance of conservative propriety,rnwhile their society slips (howeverrnslowly) toward the general state of permissivenessrnof Western democracies.rnDivorce, for example, while not yet legal,rnlooks to be gaining ground steadily, especiallyrnin the wake of Ireland’s recent narrowrnapproval of the act. Instead, “separation”rnof married couples is widespread.rnIt seemed that half of the men I met inrntheir mid-2 O’s had already been marriedrnand separated, often with children. Infidelityrnis part of the pattern, and helps tornfuel the considerable industry of hotelsrnthat rent rooms by the hour. These facilitiesrnrange from simple hotel rooms tornthe kind of extravagant sexual themeparksrndescribed by Isabel Allende in ThernHouse of the Spirits. They are also usedrnby young unmarried couples, sincernChilean youths tend to live at home untilrnthey tie the knot. As it is, nearly everyrnavailable public space seems to be filledrnwith make-out artists.rnIn spite of the general trend, legalizedrnabortion, for now, is barely a blip on thernpolitical radar screen. Accounts varyrngreatly concerning the incidence of thernpractice. Only the upper-class womenrnare wealthy enough to go to anotherrncountry for an antiseptic operation, andrnthey are, according to all reports, thernmost conservative of the nation’s women.rnIn only one regard is the UnitedrnStates more outwardly prudish thanrnChile. I refer to the presence of halfnakedrngirls on the front pages of some ofrnthe major daily newspapers. While Irnhave nothing against half-naked girls—rnespecially the Argentine beachgoers whornare regularly featured—I did take somernpride in the fact that in America ourrnmainstream journalism has not sunk tornthis particular tactic in its quest for readership.rnWhile the invasion of American culture,rnand especially pop culture, is extensivernin practically every sphere, it is farrnfrom the point of overwhelming nativernChilean elements. The Vifia del Marrnmusic festival, for all of its glamour-poprncheesiness, I take to be a sign of the resiliencernof such elements. The internationallyrntelevised February festival is arnshowcase of Latin Rock and hemisphericrnfolklorical music. This year’s nod tornAmerican pop was the brief resurrectionrnof Laura Branigan—worse, perhaps, thanrnno nod at all. One of my leftist friendsrntold me that during the Unidad Popularrnyears, bands like Santana and Joe Cockerrncame to Viria, which is far and away thernbest thing I have heard about the Allendernperiod.rnChile is famous as an economic frontier.rnIn melodramatic shorthand, it is thernformer socialist basket case that was rescuedrnfrom the fate of Alan Garcia’s Perurnby the free-market technocrats of thernPinochet government and set on arncourse for the First World along with thernother Pacific Rim economies. But whatrnreally makes the country frontierish arernthe places where the Chile of the economicrn”miracle”—with its pagers andrncellular phones and per-capita standardof-rnliving statistics—meets the old Chilernof entrenched habits, intransigent simplicity,rnand continuing poverty.rnRoughly 15 percent of the labor forcernworks in agriculture, forestry, and fishing,rnwhere two decades of often gruelingrnmodernization have made these sectorsrninternationally competitive. Even so,rnmuch of the cultivation and extraction inrnthese sectors remains traditional. Andrnwhile this made for some wonderfullyrnrustic scenery in the southern farmrncountry and the fishing villages of the islandrnof Chiloe—where it often helped tornhave an off-road motorcycle with goodrnshocks—I did wonder about the fates ofrnthese rural people in the ever-advancingrnage of big business and international freerntrade.rnOfficially, Chile is eager to joinrnNAFTA. As it is, the country has unilaterallyrnlowered its general tariffs to 11 percent,rnand it has set up tariff-free zones inrnits northernmost and southernmost regions.rnStill, many Chileans I talked to expressedrnthe concern that their nation isrnon its way to becoming an American territory.rnOne traditional business practice, thatrnof the multiple receipts, brings both frustrationrnand amusement to foreigners. Itrnoccurs mostly in pharmacies and schoolrnsupplies stores, and seems to be morerncommon in Santiago than in the South.rnAfter the customer has selected an item,rnthe salesman behind the counter handsrnhim a receipt, or boleto. Even though therncustomer may have held the item in hisrnhand, he must give it back to the salesmanrnand then take the receipt to anotherrnemployee who works at the caja, orrncash register. Once the customer hasrnpaid for the item and received a stampedrnreceipt, he must then go, not back to thernsales counter, but to a third station, empaque,rnwhere he at last exchanges the receiptrnfor the item he has purchased.rnThis process, which takes on MontyrnPythonish aspects when there is only onernemployee in the store, occurs regardlessrnof whether the store has a bar-code reader,rnso it probably cannot be pinned onrnold-fashioned methods of inventory accounting.rnNow, whenever I see a widespreadrnpractice that appears to be inefficient, Irnsuspect that the government is behind it.rnBut none of the clerks I asked seemed tornthink that there was any kind of perversernlegislation, tax or otherwise, promptingrnthe multiple receipts. This was furtherrnconfirmed for me by a young UCLAtrainedrneconomist during a visit to arnright-wing think tank, the Instituto Libertadrny Desarrollo. Though the practicernwas a staple of life in the Soviet Union,rnthe whole phenomenon remains a mysteryrnto me.rnSome quick investment tips forrnChronicles readers follow. First, I was unablernto find a single cigar store in therncountry that had a real humidor; asidernfrom having narrow selections of Havanas,rnnone of the best tabaquerias couldrnOCTOBER 1996/37rnrnrn