PUNTA ARENAS is called the jumping-off place because it is the town at the lowest end of South America, looking out on Magellan Strait where the tides of the Atlantic and Pacific meet. On the map it is within Chile, but really it is a place and a law to itself. Many of those who walk the streets have money, and some of the money actually comes from the sheep ranches of the interior. Having no customs there is of course much smuggling; having no extradition treaties, some of the men and women who play cards at its club or listen to its nightly concert live there because it is more convenient to do so than to live anywhere else. It is not etiquette in Punta Arenas to ask your neighbor about his past...or where his money came from.
