The title is a a very typical greeting here in Argentina. It literally means "Is everything tranquil?" The normal response is "yes," mostly because it's a greeting.
This question caught my attention the other day. I don't think that in the States this greeting would really work. Partially because no one says "tranquil," but also because the stateside culture doesn't revolve around "taking it easy" as much as it does here in Latin America. I have heard some people say in the English: "things are pretty chill," but that's not often the case.
I am a person who generally appreciates punctuality. When it depends on me, I arrive on time. This often means sacrifices on my part because I enjoy taking my time with things like getting up the morning. This has caused for frustration in my life (both in Argentina and Mexico) because the general public doest not share this same value. The sweet time is taken without the sacrifice of something else.
As a result, the pace of life here is slower. And I am not complaining about that. In fact, stress about times and deadlines goes away.
I used the words "frustration" and "stress" on purpose. When the time crunch factor is taken out of the equation of life, it's much easier to answer "yes" when someone asks you if everything is tranquil.
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