I came to the Yucatán to learn Spanish. What I actually learned was that I'd misunderstood what communication was for.
Where I'm from, a conversation is mostly a transaction, get the information, get out. Here, the information is almost the excuse. The real message is the warmth: the ¿cómo estás? that genuinely waits for an answer, the pásele that turns a doorway into an invitation, the relationship being maintained underneath the words.
Efficiency was hiding the point
I used to optimize my speech for speed. Living here, I realized speed was costing me the thing speech is for. The slow, redundant, "inefficient" layers, the greetings, the diminutives, the small softenings, are the message. They say you matter more than my schedule.
It shows up in everything I build now
I design software differently because of this. Friction isn't always the enemy; sometimes it's the warmth. The most human systems leave room for the part that isn't strictly necessary. Mexico taught me that the unnecessary part is usually the point.