When to KISS

I first went to Latin America in 1999. I went to Bolivia, to be exact. That is where I was initially introduced to the "cheek kiss" greeting. By this I mean the kiss, or kisses, that people give to one another when they meet up; this "cheek kiss" is much like the handshake in America, or the hug in Haiti. It is a greeting that millions of people all over South America (and well, the world) are most familiar with. But to us, the "gringos", it can be awkward.

I mean, do you kiss each time you see the person? For instance, I visited some good friends this afternoon and since they're from South America and they know of my cultural knowledge (AKA time spent abroad), we always kiss as a greeting. I'm comfortable, meaning I'm totally ok and used to it, with this and have no problems. I don't even mind kissing them goodbye. The issue is that I don't think I'm a natural. I guess since I know that the kiss goodbye is coming that maybe I over think it and when I'm leaving then I have to lean in and sometimes I just think about it too much. I just feel like I do it wrong, like it's forced. I'm not uncomfortable, I'm just awkward (or so I think - no one has ever told me differently).

Anyway, I digress. So I run into these friends a few hours later at our local supermarket and to greet me my friend kisses me again. (I can't remember if she kissed me goodbye). But I thought that we didn't need to do that since we'd already greeted each other with a kiss a few hours before at her house. This leaves me wondering, when exactly do we kiss? Is there a specific place on the cheek to kiss so as not to accidentally kiss on the neck or too close to the mouth? How many times do you kiss? I know in the case of Brazil, and possibly in certain European countries, it depends on the region or country. And then in my experience today, do you kiss if you see each other more than once in a day? All of this can be very confusing to a handshaking, family-hugging American girl.