Cultural Differences In El Salvador

Although the United States can be divided into different sections each with its own cultures and influenced by different histories and people, there are some behaviors that are generally spread throughout the entire country. In the two months I have been in America, I have perceived a culture that is characterized by respectfulness and organization. Therefore. Americans might misinterpret certain Salvadorian behaviors such as driving, public transportation and dining because Salvadorians tend to be more relaxed and informal.
The ways people behave are sometimes impacted by the society as a whole and although there are certain behaviors that clearly go against the concept of “civility”, certain cultures have learnt to cope with it just because
it’s the norm or because of the context in which they live. Take driving for example. In the United States, the laws are strictly enforced and there is a high level of requirements to obtain a driver’s license. Roads are also given manteinance constantly, rights of way are clear and people tend to follow the rules when driving. On the other hand, there is a popular saying in El Salvador that the only law that applies when driving is “The law of the strongest”. With constant traffic jams, poorly maintained roads and buses that don’t respect any type of road signal, driving in El Salvador is a nightmare. Therefore, everyone has developed a selfish sense of driving where they put their personal interests over the ones of other drivers. I am not condoning this attitude, but is is generally perceived as “acceptable” just because of all the other factors around it.
A similar thing happens with the use of public transportation.
The state of public transportation vehicles in El Salvador is deteriorating and there is no standard set for them. So many people depend on the use of public transportation that buses are usually overcrowded and since nobody regulates the number of people who get into them, this is an actual risk for the passengers. Needless to say, there are no norms that regulate the behavior of passengers when using public transportation. Because of the gang issue, buses are a common place for violent crimes to occur. In El Salvador, buses are not owned by a single entity and therefore, different companies offer the same routes at the same time. Because of this, bus drivers tend to speed to get to the next bus station before their rival buses in order to get more passengers than them. They do this because passengers pay the fare once they get in the bus and the drivers get to keep part of what the passengers pay. Therefore, the more passengers they take, the better income they make. When I lived in El Salvador, I saw buses race each other head to head all the time and this are vehicles that are not suited in any form to be going at the velocities they go at. This is yet another risk factor that may lead to crashes or other type road
accidents. On the other hand, public transportation in America is really safe and organized.
Buses have certain schedules and rates. People commuting in this type of transportation are also respectful and care for the well being of the vehicles and other passengers. In my time in the United States, I have used the Dallas Area Rapid Transit (DART) in several ocations and I am impressed by how smoothly it works. From buying a pass using your mobile phone or a machine in the station, to looking up routes online and knowing that the time they display are going to be almost the same as the real travelling times. This type of public transportation is very safe and reliable. In some places of the United States, there are armed transit police on board to make sure that no violent crimes take
place.
Another example of how Salvadorians have different customs when compared to Americans is in Dining. When an American family goes out to a restaurant, they usually leave the restaurant straight after they have finished eating because the waiter is expecting to make more income from the customers that will sit at the table after their previous customers leave. People in the US also have the custom of leaving a generous tip behind because they know that waiters are not paid that much by their employers. In El Salvador, when a family or a group of friends goes out to a restaurant they usually stay at a table for a long time after eating. It just makes sense for us to keep on with the casual conversation at the table since everyone is already meeting there anyway. Tips are also generally included in the bill just because most people will not tip an appropriate percentage if they are given the freedom to decide. This could mainly be because of the difficult economic situation in El Salvador.
Americans and Salvadorians have very different behaviors and this is a in a sense because of the contexts surrounding them such as economic status and culture in general. In general, Americans tend to be very organized as it is an example with public transportation and driving but also tend to be a little bit more cold in that they do everything methodically, including going to dinner with some friends. Salvadorians tend to be a lot more relaxed in the fact that they don’t follow specific rules like for example when they go to dinner they might stay for a very long time just in order to enjoy each others company for longer. However, Americans might interpret this as being selfish because they are using a spot in the restaurant even though they are not longer consuming. This relaxed attitude also has very negative effects when it comes to driving and public transportations a there is no organization at all and this leads to several risks.