Ten Essential Historical Facts about Chile

We all know about "our" heritage in the USA: Presidents, wars, events, natural disasters, economic crises, etc. Chile, of course, has its own history and those who plan to immigrate to Chile should plan to at least have some idea about the country. Here are a few essential facts.

1. Capitan Arturo Prat. This guy's statue is everywhere. He was famous for beating Peru (and their famous ship Huascar with his ship the Esmeralda), employing vastly inferior resources in the naval battle of Iquique (May 21, 1879) which turned the tide the in War of the Pacific (1879-1884) and eventually won Chile all its copper territory from Peru and Bolivia. His ship was lost and he died in the battle. He was immortalized by the fact that (1) he was a "common" officer with no hope of ever reaching high command but (2) he was so courageous to jump on board the enemy ship with virtually no chance to survive in order to secure victory for his country. He has no idea how well he is memorialized. His picture is on the blue 10,000 peso note. Argentina also entered Chilean territory at this juncture of history, taking advantage of the absence of Chilean troops in its southern territory, and stole most of Patagonia from Chile (tip of the southern cone), mainly Chile's Atlantic coast to the mountains.

2. General Bernardo O'Higgins. This man of Irish and Basque descent is the only figure to eclipse Pratt in Street names and statues. He is called the liberator of Chile, a founding father and first Supreme Director of the country, who defeated the Spaniards in Chile's successful quest for independence in 1818. A related figure is General Jose de San Martin, a big name in Chile, although bigger in Argentina, who helped free Chile and Argentina from Spain.

3. Arturo Alessandri was President of Chile twice in the 1920s and 1930s. He introduced a European style  populism to Chile. He was likely impressed by the Bolshevik Revolution in Russia too. He changed voting in Chile to include universal voting for all men, not just those who could afford to pay a poll tax or who were highly educated or property owners. (Women could not vote until the 1950s.) Prior to Alessandri, all governments were right wing and the population of voters more than doubled with his presidency. Since his time, Chile has had almost exclusively leftist elected governments. He also introduced the first steps for socialist or redistributive policies in Chile, especially Social Security and isolationism via protectionist policies. He was influential in creating the framework for all future leftist policies. He was a notorious womanizer and quick-witted. He had learned about Mussolini-like ideas after being exiled to Italy for a year by the Chilean military (thinking he would be comfortable there on account of his last name) but he was brought back to become a unifier of the lower classes. He championed a socially liberal lifestyle and was a master of its related rhetoric.

4. Pedro de Valdivia. A Spanish conquistador and first Royal governor of Chile, Pedro de Valdivia founded the city of Santiago on February 12, 1541. He is famous for his remark that Chile was a nice place to be since there is nothing in the land that can kill you (snakes, wild beasts, etc.). Streets, hotels, and cities are named after him (including the river city Valdivia which he founded in 1552 as a hideaway from pirates seeking Spanish gold). A related figure is Diego del Almagro, coeval with Pedro de Valdivia. He was another Spanish conquistador (mainly in Peru). He was in Chile looking for gold under commission from the King and apparently was beheaded or garroted in Cuzco, Peru after fleeing from a conflict in his home region. (His appeal to the King was ignored.) He had an infamous affair with a mistress. He was in the north of Chile (desert) on a number of important occasions and has a town named after him near the pass (San Francisco) where Pedro de Valdivia first entered the country. An important modern hotel chain is also named after him.

5. Pablo Neruda. Famous for his pro-communist stand in Chile and support of Latin American communists in general, Neruda won the Nobel Prize in poetry in 1971. He was elected Senator from Antofagasta in 1945 after running as the communist party candidate.  His house is a tourist attraction in Valparaiso. That city is also famous for its British influence that is still seen today: hillside elevators (funiculars) and trains from early last century still run today (and go on the "wrong side").

6. Gabriela Mistral. Her face is on the 5,000 peso note. A feminist, she won the Nobel Prize in literature for her poetry in 1945 (the first Latin American to win it). She was also a leading educator and a diplomat. Prior to winning the Nobel Prize, she was a run-of-the-mill poet in Chile, not recognized in Chile for being substantially better than anyone else, perhaps because she was a woman. She was awarded the Chilean national literary prize in the 1950s.

7. Diego Portales was a constitutionalist and the founder of the Chilean state. Like Jefferson in the USA (without Jefferson's intellectual liberalism and writing skill), he oversaw the writing of Chile's first Constitution after independence. He was more of an activist than an intellectual. He was also a well known womanizer (perhaps more akin to Franklin in the USA), and thus chose to take a less-public role for himself. He was an atheist but a pragmatist and man of compromise who thought it necessary to incorporate the Roman Catholic Church into the government. A related figure was Andres Bello, a Venezuelan legal scholar, who was introduced to Portales and was brought to Chile to write the legal system (law codes, courts, etc.). This was done and Bello became the father of the Chilean legal system. Bello also was the first Rector (President) of the University of Chile, since at the time he was considered one the most educated men in the country.

8. 1960 Earthquake and tidal waves near Valdivia. Strongest in the history of the Western Hemisphere (9.5 on the moment magnitude scale) and was also followed by the eruption of the Puyehue volcano directly inland. The tidal waves apparently reached 82 feet high and came in something like 5 miles. There were four foreshocks registering over 7 on the Richter scale and many aftershocks registering from 5 to over 7. The rivers in Valdivia were backed up and flooded, killing many. In total, 1,655 were killed by the quake and another 61 by the tsunami. Some people were so scared from the 3 minutes of shaking that they ran to their boats to get off of the land, only to be sucked into the waves. Concepcion was also heavily damaged and lake bottoms were cracked and the water disappeared. Of course, Chile has all sorts of volcanic, thermal, and seismic activity but only very rarely approaching this magnitude. The Arica was evidently inundated by an enormous tidal wave three centuries ago that pushed a Spanish galley 30 miles inland. Otherwise, most Chilean natural disasters are no more spectacular than those in California or Italy.

9. September 11, 1973 "golpe militar." This event changed Chile. Communist President Salvador Allende was overthrown by General Augusto Pinochet and the junta from the other armed services. Still an event of great contention, the left claims that thousands were killed or missing. The right claims nearly fell into a civil war in reaction to the damage done by Allende in which Chile was impoverished by the communist regime. The right looks at Pinochet as Chile's redeemer (akin to the USA's George Washington), despite his faults. A majority of Chileans still support Pinochet (now dead) in Allende's overthrow, since they can see the incredible economic progress in Chile to First World status as a consequence of this event. Pinochet has a bad name in the USA, Spain and Canada because so many leftists fled Chile to those places and spread their ideas against Pinochet's free market reforms. A related figure is Sergio de Castro, the first "Chicago-boy" to enter into the high ranks of the Chilean government (as Minister of Finance). He was the first formally and classically-trained economist to be an advisor to any Chilean government and brought the free market reforms to Chile that have made it so prosperous in recent decades. Even leftist governments since his time (he worked for Pinochet from 1976 to 1981) have not varied much from using his model. His most important reforms were to eliminate price controls, cut down the deficit (giving more control against inflation), open the economy to foreign trade, and eliminate protectionism. Likewise, his student Jose Piñera came and installed private Social Security. Piñera disagreed with de Castro with respect to the use of a strict fixed exchange rate and minimum wage policies (the former led to an economic disaster and de Castro's dismissal). He was part of Pinochet government from from 1979 to 1982. Some of the other Chicago boys considered him to be a traitor for opposing the fixed fixed exchange rate of de Castro, but he was probably the more clever economist of the two.

10. Immigration and wealth.  Inflows of people from Europe and the Middle East has been important in Chile, with important colonies having been developed and settled by Germans , Arabs, Italians, French, Spaniards, British and Croatians. The British influence is still especially seen in Santiago, Valparaiso, Viña del Mar, Iquique and Antofagasta, which were important for British shipping and industry particularly prior to the opening of the Panama Canal in 1911 and prior to the introduction of synthetic gunpowder which eclipsed the saltpeter mines in the north near Iquique (Peruvian territory during most of the 19th century). The Croatians have been especially prominent in mining and shipping areas of Porvenir, the site of a gold rush in the early 1800s, and Punta Arenas in the deep south of Chile, as well as in Valparaiso. The German settlements (1850s to 1920s) opened the entire territory from  from Coyhaique to Temuco to productive agriculture and industry. Today, the richest families in Chile, billionaires, represent immigrants from Germany (Horst Paulmann and the von Appen family), Italy (family of Anacleto Angelini and the Falabella family along with the Cuneo and Solari families), French (the Cousiño family), Belgium (Carlos Cardoen), Croatia (Andronico Luksic), Britain (family of Augustin Edwards), Palestine (Alvaro Saieh, Salvador Said, Nicolas Abumohor, and Juan Carlos Yarur), Jewish (Dario Calderon, Mario Kreutzberger a.k.a. Don Francisco), and Spain (Eliodoro Matte, and others who have had their family fortunes since the 19th century, and men like Ricardo Claro and Sebastian Piñera), but immigrant families from Europe in general did well in Chile. There are also some Russians and Portuguese in the higher classes, and many lower-class immigrants from China, Peru and Bolivia. Chile, like America, is quite a "melting pot" with Europeans and Indians. However, there are very few Negroes and have been hardly any Asians until the recent surge in Chinese.

Starting to Learn Spanish?

Please review my earlier posts on this blog regarding what you can do to start learning Spanish prior to arrival. In addition, please click this link.

http://www.profesorenlinea.cl/castellano/VerbosConjugacion.htm

The site is very useful. You should memorize every verb on the page and know its meaning in English. Then you should click each verb and memorize its conjugation completely. Doing so should keep you busy for a while!

Birth Certificates, Marriage Licenses, Divorce Decrees and Apostilles

Those who enter Chile with plans to stay (and obtain visas) will have to have certain legal documentation certified and in-hand. All documents should have the gist of its information written in Spanish on the back (or on the front if there is room), signed before a notary, and then stamped by the Chilean consulate (you will need the country clerk's verification of notary certificate sent along with the certificates). Upon arrival, these documents will then be stamped again in downtown Santiago by the ministry of foreign relations. Some sample Spanish partial translations for you or the notary to use (better if typewritten) are:

Birth Certificate

Se nació (First, Middle and Last Name of child) a los padres (Father's full name), padre, y (mother's full name), madre, en la ciudad de (name of city), (country name in Spanish, USA is EEUU) en el (day) de (month in Spanish), de (year).

Marriage License

Se casaron (First, Middle and Last Name of man) con (First, Middle and Last Name of woman) en la ciudad de (name of city), (country name in Spanish, USA is EEUU), el (day) de (month in Spanish), de (year).

Divorce Decree

Se divorciaron (First, Middle and Last Name of man) y (First, Middle and Last Name of woman) en la ciudad de (name of city), (country name in Spanish, USA is EEUU), el (day) de (month in Spanish), de (year) en la corte (name of court), fallo no. (case number). A (Full name of parent with custody) se otorgó custodia plena de los hijos (list full names of each child).

Apostilles


Technically, all government-generated legal documents should be accompanied by an apostille attached to it. Wikipedia thus describes apostilles: "...a French word which means a certification. It is commonly used in English to refer to the legalization of a document for international use under the terms of the 1961 Hague Convention Abolishing the Requirement of Legalisation for Foreign Public Documents. Documents which have been notarized by a notary public, and certain other documents, and then certified with a conformant apostille are accepted for legal use in all the nations that have signed the Hague Convention." Chile was not a signer at the Hague Convention and thus does not issue apostilles, according to this page from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. That fact means that getting an apostille is probably overkill for Chilean purposes.

Nevertheless, you will not be harmed if you get an apostille. All American states have departments with provide apostilles. In the USA, the agency is generally each state's secretary of state. And those who want to be extremely well-prepared with their documentation prior to arrival might want to get apostilles added to the documents. The cost is usually not high (a couple dollars perhaps plus postage), but one will usually have to obtain brand new certificates, decrees and other documents prior to requesting apostilles since older certificates might bear the signature of a registrar or other state signer who no longer works for the state and thus cannot be verified as the signatory. So getting all the certificates anew can be expensive, not to mention time-consuming. However, I have found that in Chile this step is unnecessary since documents stamped only by the Chilean consulate have always been accepted in Chile, and sometimes even documents without that stamp are accepted. Moreover, Chile never signed on to be part of the apostille system. For those reasons I generally do not recommend that newcomers bother with apostilles.

Scratching Things Off of Forms not Allowed

One custom that Americans have a little trouble getting used to in Chile is precision when filling our forms, deposit slips, or writing checks. In particular, Americans are used to scratching out mistakes, or overwriting an error with the correct letter or number. As you can probably imagine, once a native speaker of English resides in Chile he will have plenty of opportunities to misspell something in Spanish. Misspellings, inaccuracies on dates or amounts, scratched-out sections, and so forth are all fatal in terms of documentation acceptance in Chile. When it happens, you have to start over again with a fresh form or document. Being forewarned might be of some help in preventing the problem but in all likelihood you will learn this lesson in Chile in the school of hard knocks.

Please Visit this Blog

More support for Chile from yet another American source in this page. I think he is mistaken about President Lagos to some extent. But the rest of what he says is right on.

http://www.savagejungle.com/chile.html

A Beautiful Day in Santiago

Late November and April are the best months in Santiago. The weather is dry, with highs in the 70s. There is a little bit of snow left on the mountains and the fields a full of crops and the hillsides are green (in November). The view from the air is pleasant (e.g., when landing in the SCL airport). It is very similar to southern California in many respects. There is no smog to speak of and besides the fresh leaves on the trees there are still a fair number of spring flowers in late November. All around is sprawling business, endless construction sites with cranes and beautiful new homes and high-rise apartments and office buildings.

I wish you could be here to enjoy it!

Traditional Chilean Maidens

Note: My recent post describing the roles of men and women in Chile's middle and upper classes seemed to raise the ire of a lot of American feminists. This corollary post is bound to have the same effect. While I am not writing about this topic to bother them--and I will once again highlight the purpose of this blog is to describe life in Chile in a "tell it like it is" fashion rather than be politically correct--I have to admit that I enjoy the by-product of watching them squirm a bit! (This is especially true for any "Christian" and "Presbyterian" feminists in South Carolina.)

Not all women in Chile could be described as "traditional" but there are an important number of them around. A lot of young ladies in Chile are raised to know their role and their place. This fact is especially true in provinces outside of Santiago, such as Talca, Osorno, Punta Arenas and so forth. The old adage is very true in Chile: "If you want to know what a girl will be like just look at her mother." And their mothers are often traditional wives. Simply put, many if not most Chilean girls are raised to know how to be "keepers at home" (like the Apostle Paul talks about in Titus 2:5), and to focus on caring for husband and children, as well as aging parents and perhaps ministry opportunities with children in her church. The idea of aborting one or more of her children never enters her mind. Bearing and raising children is an honored and laudable goal in Chile. Life is not about a woman's convenience or fulfilling her need to philander. Her focus is not on getting a career or competing in a man's world. She has to be a domestic Jill-of-All-Trades and works toward that goal. She sees her mother wait on her father, and to be at his beck and call, and learns to do the same. She knows who is the head of the home. That is not to say she expects to be mistreated. On the contrary, she yearns for and expects her man to love her and be romantic as well. In response, she will be very loving or amorosa.

Unlike young men, traditional young women will often not leave their parent's home until they are married. She will wait for a young man to court her and will rely on her father to provide for her until a suitor arrives and marries her. She expects that man to love her and provide for her, give her children and to be diligent and (if possible) well-respected and intelligent. Until he arrives she may find a job and work at something to provide for her basic needs, and this pursuit can also include going to the university to get a profession (which is recognized as a good place nowadays to come in contact with a young man to marry), but the traditional maiden never adopts the career-oriented life of a man. The man is to be the provider. That fact is one reason why the man's age often does not matter to the young woman. On the contrary, many young ladies believe that older men (even 20 to 30 years older) are more stable, have better incomes, and will provide more security economically. Thus, marrying an older man is hardly uncommon, especially 7 to 15 years older.

A young woman works on perfecting her virtues and attractiveness. She knows that a man's sex drive is her friend since it makes men interested in women and allows women to have children. Without this sexual aspect, she would have fewer opportunities in life to achieve her goals. She learns to make up and adorn her body in such a way that she can attract a mate who will provide for her. But she is not necesarily manipulative. She accepts her objectification sexually as part of life and as the key to her long term success and happiness. She knows that pleasing her husband sexually will be one of the key features of her life, just as it was for her mother. She is a machista. And in my experience, there are far more young ladies who are machistas than feministas in Chile. She does not lose focus of the fact that she needs to do her part to make sure her husband succeeds in his career so that he can in turn provide a good life for her.

Moreover, she learns about etiquette and manners, and speaks without the poor or foul language that is often part of a man's world. She shows a keen interest in children (whether her own or others), and is far more interested in charity and service than politics or business. War and sports are not the things that excite her. In the higher classes, she learns about how to handle maids and other family servants. Girls who come from staunchly religious families or who later adopt such religious sentiment themselves (whether Catholic or Evangelical) will often remain virgins until their wedding night.

Furthermore, in the upper classes, the whole matter of relationships is entangled with Catholic religion, connections, family names, money, and matters of social importance. Who one marries is much more important than sex. Choosing a mate is a matter of status and power too. Hence, how a man makes his living is a question of vital importance for the traditional Chilean female. This fact applies both in the provinces and in Santiago, although everything seems to be connected to Santiago in one way or another. There is also a lot of double speak among traditional women, who will often describe a suitor as "a good man" or "nice" when in fact these normal words are codes among the elite to say that she thinks the man is an idiot, stupid, or ugly. This sort of cultural phenomena complicates relationships and adds color to the traditional maiden in Chile. Her religious commitment level is also of key importance in determining how she behaves or speaks, and especially whether or not she is willing to lie.

Of course, Santiago is a different story when it comes to kinds or classes of women. There are many thousands of traditional Chilean maidens in the capital, especially among religious families. But the scourge of feminism is ever-present and has been leading the charge toward liberal social values, resulting in an ever-growing segment of the population becoming more like the rest of the "First World." The same is also true, although to a lesser extent, in larger cities like Concepción and Viña del Mar. But insofar as I can tell the traditional view is still predominant. Consequently, if the ideal of the traditional Chilean maiden is not appealing to you, then Chile might not be an appealing place for you to live. Chilean culture is changing, and may be lagging behind the USA and western Europe by 50 or 60 years, but at present Chilean family culture is largely traditional. This fact is something that religious people in America should find very appealing and might indeed be one of the most attractive features of immigrating to Chile.

"Estamos en Chile"

Oftentimes when a Chilean wants to express his frustration or make an excuse for poor performance he will exclaim: Estamos en Chile ("we are in Chile"). You will hear this expression fairly often as you see things not working well, whether you are entangled in a bureaucracy's web or struggling to get your plumbing to work correctly.

Of course, Latin America in general is famous for being replete with bureaucratic hassles and tensions. These problems largely stem from its convoluted and canonical system of law which features the absence of any classically liberal tradition. In addition, we should bear in mind that the vast majority of Chileans have not traveled and, especially since they do not speak or read English, have little idea what things are like outside of their county. They do not have the same reference point as people coming from the more "developed" world. Nevertheless, in a relative sense, Chile is better than any other Latin country--even though the experience will still be irritating for Americans and Northwestern Europeans.

Basically anytime you are with a native and have experienced some sort of hassle that they believe would not happen in the First World, noting their feeling of shame in your presence, they will express their exasperation, "E'tamo en Chile!" (per the local pronunciation, cutting the letter "s" out).

As an immigrant, you too will get used to using the phrase, especially if you are not accustomed to using foul language (or in case you do not know any bad words in Chilean Spanish). After going through some harrowing, unnecessarily time-consuming, nonsensical, poor performance, poor workmanship, or some generally stupid situation, you will just look the perpetrators squarely in the eye, frowning, and tell them: "Estamos en Chile." They will get the point immediately. You are neither fond of them nor the way things work in Chile. As you walk away you will also tell all those around you, more quietly, shaking your head and rolling your eyes, "Estamos en Chile." They will all nod in response, and some will be embarrassed that such things happen in their country.

So before you come, be sure to get acquainted with this phase and practice it. You will probably be using it often. Of course, saying it will not make the situation any better, other than to give you some sentimental relief after being antagonized. But the phrase's relative ineffectiveness will probably not stop you from including the exclamation in your bank of regular-use Spanish words and phrases.

Why Chile Is More Economically Free Than the United States

Check out the Cato Institute article "Why Chile Is More Economically Free Than the United States" by Chilean José Piñera, famous for masterminding the privatization of social security in Chile. The article is short and sweet, and very telling. I agree with Piñera 100%. For anyone considering any other place in the world besides Chile (save those wealthy enough to go to Hong Kong, certain island nations, or elite European enclaves), this article should make you think twice. By the way, Piñera's brother Sebastian, a wealthy businessman and a Harvard Ph.D. in economics (and until just recently the major shareholder in Lan Chile airlines), is the front-runner in Chile's upcoming presidential race.

Is the Price of Gold Rising?

The answer to that question depends on the currency you are comparing gold to.

The spot price of gold in terms of Chilean pesos has gone DOWN while its price in dollars has RISEN. For instance, the 100 peso Chilean gold coin (which contains 0.5886 ounces of gold) has gone DOWN to 332,500. That is about 10,000 to 15,000 pesos less than it was a couple weeks ago. Remember, inflation means that the DOLLAR is worth less, not that the value of things purchased with dollars increases. Prices rise in dollars in the USA because it takes more inflated dollars to buy a given item. The same is true for international commodities traded in dollars, such as oil.

If you had held pesos instead, you would have seen no relative price increases in gold recently. Moreover, those of us who get paid in pesos have seen a tremendous windfall of what our salaries can buy in terms of dollars. It is great right now to get paid in pesos but have debt in dollars. It is like getting a discount. Of course locally in Chile there is no benefit to the dollar's decline except on imported items, mainly from the USA, since pesos will buy much more than before. Check out this xe.com link to see a listing of prices of currencies and precious metals.

As I said, the chickens are coming home to roost in the USA.

Roles of Men and Women in Chile's Upper and Middle Classes

If you happen to be one of those domineering, malicious and overbearing American women that Oprah and other daytime television is famous for helping to create, then Chile is probably not the place for you. Ditto if you are one of those American gals raised and nurtured in the U.S. public school system, having imbibed grocery store checkout magazine culture--not to mention romance novel and Sex in the City philosophy. (Even some "good" Presbyterian "Christian" feminists in South Carolina would be included in this group of women.)

Chilean culture is unabashedly machista, full of chauvinists, political incorrectness, shallow traditional views and desires, and old-fashioned male dominance (where women can be objectified for their flaunted sexual features). Men often shop for women as commodities, or mercancia, based on their appearance as they are seen walking around. However, there are some notable exceptions. This "shallow" aspect of life in Chile is mitigated to a large extent within strongly religious groups which would place spiritual commitment as high or higher than physical features.

Women (mainly single ones) unashamedly flaunt their "assets" and do not disdain being desired by men for such attributes. Business meetings, even mixed gender ones, frequently digress to subjects regarding women, many of which American feminists would find distasteful, degrading, demeaning and brazen. Men seem to like it since it reminds them of their main sexual objective and women seem to like it because it makes them feel wanted and gives them clues about what men are looking for (so that the women can know better just how to go about getting what they want). Both are reminded of their respective roles too.

(Within the Chilean mainstream, homosexuals hardly stand a chance, although there are pockets of them in Chile. "Gays" and lesbians simply do not fit in to the traditional roles of men and women.)

The problem in Chile is that men want to get married to women (or at least live with women) who are attractive and will "turn them on" and fulfill them sexually. In second place they want to have children. The idea of having a woman as a companion "to talk to" about important subjects in life is a distant third for most men. After all, men have their buddies to talk to. Women are primarily made for the bed. Or, as one Oregon woman reminded me in 1990, women are useful "for sex and babies." They are also good to take along on vacation and trips if they do not nag too much or complain excessively. In the larger scheme of things (although there are certainly exceptions), the woman is to conform herself to the man's life and circumstances. This fact is especially true among more religious people.

Middle and upper class Chilean women have different domestic roles than American and European women do. Maids and gardeners take care of the house, garden, lawn, babysitting, laundry and cooking. Private school teachers take care of the children's education. Wives are not needed for such tasks, other than perhaps to manage the domestic employees when not drinking coffee with their friends, doing charity work, or chitchatting while riding the exercise bicycle or shopping. They want to make sure that they continue to please their husbands physically (and also to avoid getting picked on by other women for being too fat). That's their role.

The other problem in Chile is that women want to marry a man, almost regardless of how he looks or how old or fat he is, who can provide them with resources, security and children. If they can get some love and romance too, well that of course is preferable (but not always necessary). But Chilean women do seek romance and love as much as possible, and Latin males are notorious for fulfilling this quest. The result is that there is plenty of romance in Chile. Chilean women want a man who will work for her and her children so that she can be with her kids the maximum amount of time possible. She may have to work some too (especially if needed to pay the best private school tuition possible for the kids), but her career is secondary to her husband's. She does not mind being spoiled and might even demand it. The "I Love Lucy" woman is no stranger in Chile. She knows her role is primarily as a sex slave, baby maker and child raiser and does not mind that fact. This fact is especially true for highly religious groups like Opus Dei, Legionarios de Cristo, and certain staunch Evangelicals. She even dreads having to get a career when she would really much rather be a stay-at-home mom if she could. Once the man does his part in producing the children, she is quite content to take the kids places and get them to events and school while the man becomes the work slave that provides the resources. That is what men are for, after all.

Both genders have events and parties with their own kind: cookouts, beach days, etc. I have even seen men skinny dipping together in the pool at a cookout event. Doing so has no homosexual implications. Every man is clear about his role as a man and his need for a woman and her useful services to him and the family. The whole family (i.e., both parents and kids and perhaps other relatives too) does get together regularly, at least every Sunday and during school vacation periods--during which they take trips or go to resort areas for camping, skiing, etc. But much of the time the family is segregated and each member spends time with his peers.

Single people behave in accordance with their well-known roles (particularly noticeable after college age). Men dress well and are clean, well-mannered and well-groomed. They get good jobs and boast about how well they could support a woman. They often talk about how they like children and want kids of their own. They show off their cars and housing. They make family a priority, including showing respect for elders and their parents. Religious men show their aptness for being spiritual leaders in the home by being active in church and maintaining respect in civic life.

Women do much of the same for cultural and family things. They also dress to make sure that men believe they will be sexual dynamos, displaying tantalizing attributes. Even staunch Evangelical and Catholic young women are not afraid to display serious cleavage, likely to the dismay of Bob Jones University onlookers. They need to make sure everyone knows that they are ready, willing and able to be a wife and mother. "She is ready to fulfill her God-given role in marriage." For Chilean women in the upper classes, it is simply good business to find a good husband and provider who is potentially a good father. For middle and upper class Chilean women, going to university and learning to cook or to drive are just not that important in the larger scheme of things. Evangelical and Catholic girls occupy their spare time showing how dedicated they are to their faith, helping at church events and Sunday School. But their religious commitment is always coupled with their demonstrated desire to fulfill their known expected role as wife and mother.

Note: Chileans know that men are "turned on" by seeing women's bodies, and are expected to be turned on in order to fulfill their role as men. This fact might be one reason why Chileans (even staunchly religious ones), like other Latin Americans, do not seem to be so offended by billboards with scantily-dressed women or even by soft pornography. Some Americans make the mistake of thinking that Chile is a more "liberal" society because of risqué billboards or late night soft porn on television when in fact the opposite is true. Such signs and programs remind everyone of the woman's traditional role and purpose. Indeed, the widespread belief among Chileans is that American women are "loose" and that obtaining sex in the USA is relatively "easy." After all, just because a Chilean woman displays more of her physical attributes than an American woman, a gringa, does not mean that she is offering men sex outside of marriage and/or some other formal commitment. They are merely advertising their physical virtues and availability. Moreover, Chileans tend to think that gringas are oftentimes clever oportunistas who, like Monica Lewinski, use their bodies or sexual powers to make money or gain some other advantage in life. At the bottom of it all, Chile has a more conservative society than either North America or Western Europe, with all the associated abortion, euthanasia, homosexuality, no-fault divorce, abandoned parents, feminism and "free love" on those continents.

In Chile, it is not bad for a man to be a man and a woman to be a woman. Chile has not quite caught up with the "post-Christian" culture of North America and Europe. There is no need for the sexes to compete with each other. The only reasonable competition occurs within each gender group: men against men and women against women. Equality between the sexes is absurd since men and women (and their respective roles) are different--although there has been some attempt to do so recently, such as passing inept legislation to make salaries equal.

As with all things, generalization is difficult. The descriptions I have made may not fit people who live in certain regions outside of Santiago's better barrios or for women from the lower middle class. Nevertheless, the descriptions are not far off. Chile is still a more conservative and traditional society than what is found in the USA or Western Europe. It resembles the USA 60 years ago, although things have been changing as more women study and become professionals. Several professors I know have read my remarks and agree that they are accurate.

I should add the important point that both genders seem to be happy with their roles by and large. As far as I can tell, middle and upper class Chileans have happier relationships than Americans do. The appeals for American feminists often fall upon deaf ears for Chilean women who neither feel mistreated nor see any virtue in the gringa lifestyle. In Chile, both sexes have very fulfilling lives for the most part. Why should chilenas mimic modern American feminists and las gringas frias? Even in the case of divorce and separation, they often maintain a cordiality and familiarity which is far less vindictive and spiteful than what is produced in American feminist culture with its bozo divorce lawyers.

Does that sort of society really offend you? Would you hate having your children raised in such a traditional or "conservative" environment? If so, you might check out New Zealand which is socially feminist and leftist.

Note: I realize that this post is a bit blunt, but the purpose of the blog is to give a glimpse as to what life is really like in Chile. There is not much point in hiding facts that might be distasteful to some people only for them to find themselves smacked by Chilean reality upon arrival in the country. My comments are descriptive. I nowhere condone any specific behavior other than my intentional disparagement of American feminist culture which I think is hideous.

"Cuotas" on Credit Card Purchases in Chile

In terms of financial planning, using other people's money to make money can be sensible--especially when the borrowing costs are zero. In the world of fractional reserve banking and fiat money, credit cards and consumer loans are a reality. Being wise as serpents and gentle as doves in such an environment may be prudent.

One thing that will puzzle Americans who shop in Chile is the cashier's question about whether they want to pay for their credit card purchase in installments (cuotas, pronounced "quotas"). An American will ask, "Why? Why should I pay for $50 worth of groceries in installments?" They will tend to think that some Chileans are poor and cannot afford even little stuff unless they pay over time.

The fact of the matter is quite different. Chilean credit card companies make deals with merchants that make cuotas a good deal for consumers and the products sold by retailers more attractive. They also offer discounts to credit card users through the cuotas system. For instance, banks will sometimes offer 3, 6 or 12 monthly payments on an item purchased without charging any interest. Thus the prudent buy can make a major purchase using money interest free for up to a year, making the effective cost of the product less on account of the time value of money. And since all purchases are cumulative when the deal is being offered (which is almost always), it makes sense to put all purchases on the cuotas system and make payments but pay no interest, saving the money that would normally be used to pay for the item up front and gaining the interest on that money over the year. If one has a high enough credit limit to buy a car on the credit card, the savings can be substantial. Thus, if one can manage his money well in Chile, and has good self control, utilizing the cuotas system may make sense.