To kiss, or not so much?

Living in another country means getting used to the local customs. When it comes to greeting people, I've adapted to several different ways: three alternating cheek kisses in the Netherlands, two in France, one in Argentina. When we got to Panama, we asked around: what's the tradition here? Should I kiss people when I greet them?

We never really got a straight answer. Most replies sounded something like this:

"Ehhh, no, not really. Well, I guess you can. Sometimes, sure. But no. Yes."

This uncertainty has led to lots of awkward hugs, half-kisses, and weird handshake hybrids.

Luckily, when introduced to someone for the first time, the process is clear: handshake, pure and simple. Hopefully you get to know them pretty well that first time, because after that, things get muddy.

We find that with most of our close friends here, we hug and kiss them hello and good-bye. Most of our close friends are fellow North Americans (who aren't always known for their hugging and kissing back home). At Happy Hour, there tends to be even more hugging and kissing than usual, even among people we don't know as well.

I find that the easiest way to do this is to lead the charge: decide how you want to handle the greeting, and do that. They'll either follow your lead or get the hell out of the way. You'll naturally get a sense of who thinks that cheek kisses are too close for comfort, and you will continue to shake hands with those people. Otherwise, after a few weeks you'll find yourself using the hug-and-kiss a lot more here than you ever would in North America.