Saying No

I think that it is impossible for the people here to say no. It is not in their culture, vocabulary, or thoughts. I´ll never forget what one of our orientation leaders told us in regards to saying no here: "No, they would rather do almost any other thing than tell you no. But, when they want to tell you yes, they will practically hop on one foot to say it." So unbelievably true. When someone wants to tell you a direct no, they beat around the bush, or as you say in Spanish, andan por las ramas. It is almost worse when they don´t know something such as directions, because they will maybe lie just a little bit because it is a part of their culture not to offend anyone. This is just a wonderful example of how great the culture here is. They only want to make you happy or make sure you have some way to be happy. After all, it would be "happier" to walk and think you are going the right way than have someone tell you that they don´t know.