After spending several months here, it is probably a good time to share some of the things we've noticed that are different between Ecuador (and many Latin American cultures) and what we're used to in the United States.
1)
Greeting one another - Men generally greet other men with a handshake, and if they know the person well, maybe a hug too. Men greet women with a handshake when they don't know the woman, or a kiss on the cheek when there is familiarity. The same goes for women, a handshake when the person is not known, or a kiss on the cheek when there is familiarity.
Also, it is polite to verbally greet other customers and the employees when you go into a restaurant or store. It is also very common to say "buen provecho" (similar to "bon appetit") in a food setting even to a total stranger.
2)
Driving - Driving is different here. The lines dividing the driving lanes are mostly considered optional. You should expect any car from any lane to make any possible move - you always have to drive defensively. Drivers are generally impatient, honking their horns the millisecond the light turns green or when they feel the driver in front of them should have made a turn already. They are annoyed and honk at other drivers for things they do themselves, and many times for something they just did.
Around the city, on roads that have multiple lanes, the far right lane is used nearly as much for parking as it is for driving. This creates so many problems and delays.
Pedestrians really do not have the right of way, even though the laws in that regard are similar to the United States. At a crosswalk, even when the pedestrian has the green man blinking indicating it is their turn to walk, the drivers generally disregard that which makes it challenging crossing busy intersections.
3)
Entertainment at intersections - Many of the busy intersections around town have a person or people performing some sort of entertainment, such as juggling, fire blowing, mimes, and acrobatics. These people hope that you will appreciate what they are doing and pay them something for it. The intersections also have vendors selling things like water, fruit, and candy.
4)
Numbers and Dates - Numbers and Dates are written differently here. With numbers, they write a period where we write a comma, and they write a comma where we write a period. For example, we would write 3,498.21 and they would write that 3.498,21.
The date is written day first, then month and year. We would write August 3, 2015 in this way: 08/03/2015; here it is written 03/08/2015. That's because we say August 3rd, 2015, and they say 3rd of August, 2015.
5)
American/English Music - Hannah thinks it's funny that nearly every place you go plays American or English speaking music. Restaurants, malls, taxis, etc. seem to mostly play that music instead of Spanish speaking or Latin music. They memorize the English lyrics even though they usually don't know what they are saying.
6)
Drinks - Drink sizes at restaurants are very different from the U.S. If you are not able to get a bottled drink, generally the "regular" size is smaller than a "small" in the U.S. And if you upgrade, the best you generally can get is what we call a "medium". And there are no free refills! Such a bummer.
Also, most people do not put ice in their drinks. Whether the drink is cold or room temperature, they just don't use ice very much here.
7)
"Ham" - We think it's funny that here they specify "ham of pig" and "ham of turkey". At the deli in the supermarket, you can't just say "ham". Where we come from "ham" is definitely pig meat, and "turkey" is definitely turkey meat. But here, "ham" must be the equivalent of "cold cut" or "deli meat".
8)
Toilet paper - In most places you are told not to flush toilet paper because there will be a clog or other damage to the system - the pipes just can't handle it. Many places, especially outside the city, do not even have toilet paper so when you travel it is always a good idea to bring your own. And sometimes if the place does have toilet paper, you have to pay to have some.
9)
Walking - Walking on the streets or in the mall can be very frustrating. In general, people do not get out of the way or even move a little bit to allow you to walk past them. We don't know why that is, but we see it all the time. People are generally very friendly and polite here, but when it comes to walking for whatever reason it's a different story.
10)
Personal space - Personal space is defined differently here. In a line, we tend to leave a little room between us and the person in front of us; here they tend to see any gap in a line as an opportunity to squeeze in, as if we weren't actually in line because of the distance between us and the other person. Also, we tend to leave a little room between us and the street when we are waiting on the sidewalk to cross the road; here they tend to see that space as the place they should occupy in order to be as close as possible to cross the street quickly. Often someone will walk up and stand right in front of us even though there is plenty of sidewalk to the right or left of us.
11)
Mayonnaise - It is very common to dip french fries in mayonnaise, or a combination of mayonnaise and ketchup. I did this when I lived here as a kid and still do it, it's pretty good.
Hopefully you appreciate some of the differences we are experiencing here. Whatever the differences are, one way of doing something isn't better or worse than another, it's just different. We have to have the mindset of adapting to them, not the other way around.
