You know you're not in the US when....

This is by no means a complete list, and I'll probably be adding to it every now and then as I experience more things that make me positive that I'm not in the United States. I hope these things make you want to come see Guatemala and they don't scare you into staying in the states forever. Most of these things I find comical, not terrible. :)

You know you're not in the United States when.....

1. ...every security guard carries a big shotgun
2. ...when the road is blocked, your bus just turns down a one-way street (the wrong way!) and drives backwards until they get to somewhere they can turn
3. ...no girl, drop dead gorgeous or average, can walk down the street without receiving a honk, whistle, or some sort of comment
4. ...you're on an old school bus with three fully-grown adults on each seat. The two people aisle-side only have half of their butt on the seat and the only way they stay on the seat is by using the resistance from the person across the aisle from them. You get super stoked when a seat has two smaller people in it so when they make room for you, you can fit 3/4 of your butt on the seat.
5. ...you're outraged when something is "expensive" (by which I mean, it's a special treat to buy a gigantic burger for Q40 a.k.a. $5....a Q50 burger is way out of my price-range!)
6. ...the locals get charged way less for things than visitors (I went to Laguna Chicabal and you have to pay to get into the park, it's Q1 for locals, Q5 for nationals, and Q15 for internationals!!!)
7. ...you can catch a bus from any point along the route; just wave it down and it'll stop for you
8. ...being 45 minutes late for everything is normal
9. ...Netflix makes you have Spanish subtitles on many of their offered titles (like actually, there's no option to turn them off on a lot of the shows!!!)
10. ...you can directly pay a police officer a fraction of your fine to convince them not to give you the fine in the first place
11. ...most people don't shake hands with women, they do the cheek kiss thing
12. ...sending something from the post office doesn't necessarily mean it will arrive at its destination
13. ...no one drinks the tap water
14. ...everything is negotiable
15. ...every door to the outside is a metal door
16. ...the number of seats on a bus by no means dictates how many people can "fit." Usually the "maximum occupancy" is 1/3 of the number of people who will cram their way on
17. ...most of the foreigners are just passing through
18. ...internet and electricity are not necessities of life, they come and go as they please
19. ...you always have to ask for your check at a restaurant
20. ...a prepaid cell phone is the norm, having a plan is strange
21. ...you get nervous when you get into someone's car and they have their seat belt on
22. ...it's totally fine that there's an empty beer can in the back seat of someone's car
23. ...flaggers for road construction don't have walkie-talkies, they just guess when it's safe for you to go