South America has redefined the phrase "Southern Hospitality", for me. The people here are really nice and are always willing to help. Every time that I meet someone new, they are always so willing to listen, even though my Spanish is terrible. When people see you, they speak. If someone sees that you are in trouble, they are willing to help. Although some people here are definitely slappin' the majority of the people here are very hospitable.
When we look at countries like Venezuela, we tend to look down on them for their shortcomings, but since visiting here, I look down on the U.S. We still haven’t figured out that being hospitable is not a crime. How often do you stop to see if someone, who looked lost, needed help? How often do you remain patient when foreigners, who do not speak much English, try to communicate with you? If you are being real with yourself, you probably very seldom do either of these things. There have been countless times that I have gotten upset with a foreign student speaking broken English, or walked past someone who was clearly lost. When you are put in these situations, your perspective will change. When you really realize how difficult it is to not have the ability to communicate or to have no idea how to get home, hospitality becomes really important. We really need to step our hospitality game up in the U.S.
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