The average South American is about as friendly and inviting as you could imagine someone being. You need help, they'll offer it. You need advice, they'll give it. You're hungry, they'll feed you. Welcome to our home, they say. Make yourself comfortable, they say. Make yourself at home, they say. And they mean every word of it. But when you're there, you get the impression that you are not in the oasis of tranquility you first thought.
You see, in the States, we say that a man's home is his castle. And a South American's home is his castle, too. But his castle is fortified. To the teeth. Latin Americans are, seemingly, paranoid about home invasions. Whether you're in the big ciudad or the tiny pueblo, everyone's windows and door are covered in iron bars, and everyone's doors have three locks. The nicer apartment buildings have guards. With big guns.Those same nice apartment buildings are usually surrounded by tall fences lined by escape-proof and entry-proof razor wire. Poorer home owners encircle their homes with concrete walls and then glue broken glass on top.
Even the indigenous Wayuu, who live in the desert and have limited building materials, create fences of terror. They make theirs from the local cacti. Climb over that burglars ! And by the way, welcome to our humble home.
