The traffic here is ridiculous. I have noted one street light. Absolutely no street signs anywhere else. It's a free for all and hope you don't get hurt. Just about every car I have seen have cracks in the windshield and dents somewhere or another. I have waited an hour in traffic to go from one bank from the next, which would be a 5 minute drive if there are no cars on the road. The use of the horns here are definitely worse than NYC. I asked my driver if police men give out tickets if people do bad things when driving. He said yes. I wonder what someone needs to do to get a ticket.
Despite the poverty being so bad, I haven't been asked for money once. If I want to buy bananas from the street vendor, yes. But I never felt threatened. And I'm not stared at as much as I thought I would be. People walk slowly, they hang around everywhere and just stand there. It's very strange in comparison to the western culture.
A couple other cultural differences I noticed: Personal space. If I am at the grocery store, people reach all around me and have no problem with standing right next to me to look at something. Also, I have noticed while talking to people they stand very close. I have caught myself on a couple occasions backing away, which is known to be an insult.
Another cultural difference: I noticed my driver rarely looks me in the eyes. So I did some research on it. Apparently it's taboo for a woman to look a man directly in the eyes. I have tried not to do this, but it's really hard not to do!
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