During my 2 year drive from Alaska to Argentina, it took almost the entire trip for me to learn this lesson. At first in Mexico (and Central America in general) I genuinely thought people were just lazy and I would think "Why don't you get a job". The years rolled on, my Spanish improved, and I had many great conversations about this topic.

Finally, a great friend in Argentina explained the situation to me. It's all about debt. In the developed world, when we want something shiny (say, an iPhone), we walk into the shop, sign a piece of paper and are showing it off to our friends 20 minutes later at the bar. It's not a completely conscious thought that we'll be paying it off for the next 24-48 months while we mindlessly go to work everyday.

In the developing or undeveloped world, nobody can get credit, so when you want an iPhone, you have to save up for it and buy it outright. So you get a solid job, and start saving the ~$700 for an iPhone. Who in their right mind is going to continue going to work day in, day out for 6-12 months just to buy an iPhone that will be obsolete in a year anyway?

More realistically, after a week or three, you quit your job, and hang out with your friends & family, having celebrations and generally enjoying your time.

And so it is that "poor" people have so much more time to enjoy their lives, rather than going to work to pay off things they never needed in the first place.