#26 - Saludos!

Saludos,

One thing I love about Ecuadorian customs is that you saludar, or greet people when you enter a room, a store or the general presence of people. It’s highly acceptable to walk into a party of 30 people and you personally kiss each one on the cheek or at least extend a handshake to each individual. That alone I think is Great manners and I love that connection on a human level.

Something I find humorous is how this affects meetings and “la hora Ecuatoriana” as the call it (i.e. not being obsessed with time and arriving within 30 minutes of that stated time is good enough). When people walk into meetings extremely late that are already in session, instead of slinking in quietly to the back, the usually shout out “BUENAS TARDES”, in order to, of course, not seem rude or mal educado (poorly educated) for entering a room without greeting the people.

That irony makes me giggle every time, because in the U.S. we would think it’s a) extremely rude to arrive late to a meeting b) make your presence known once you arrive, but here I’ve had the presenter stop to call someone out for entering the room and NOT greeting everyone. It’s so classic and I definitely prefer the Ecuadoran rules of Greetings/Saludos.