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
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
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