The Use of the Past Participle in Spain: a Matter of Antiquity?

Studying the Spanish language isn't just studying one language. It's being sensitive to all the nuances within the country of Spain and across the 20 spanish-speaking countries. My english has been affected by my spanish acquisition. For one thing, I write more often using the past participle instead of the past tense. Which brings me to another point of reflection. Spaniards use haber + -ado/-ido for most events that occured today or a few days ago, and the preterite vs. the imperfect is reserved for matters of the long-term past. At first, funny-sounding, now I wonder about it's usage. There really is no right or wrong way to express oneself using language, just different flavors. So being in Spain, walking the streets full of history of the Spanish Inquisition, voyages to the New World and accumulation of gold and glory (perhpas God too?), I think perhaps concepts of time are all relative. Well, absolutely this is made apparent by the usage of the word "now" and it's meaning in reality. But what I am thinking of is the concept of history; Spain--Europe--has such a long, rich history, maybe it MAKES SENSE to speak of things in the recent future as being closer to the present...since that's what the past participle does...bring actions to the present. Maybe it makes sense that a country that has been around for centuries than the one I was born in, would reserve actions that took place a LONG time ago for using the past tenses. Instead of "I ate today," they would say, "I have eaten today." Maybe it also keeps things in perspective, the recent past vs the distant past. My paraguayo friends would say, "it was good, we played soccer today," whereas a Spaniard would say, "Me lo he pasado bien, he jugado el fútbol hoy." Even when comparing Spain to Latin American countries, Spain has existed for far longer. WEll the culture that is today Spain and the mix of cultures that is now Latin America (what has been born since the fall of the great indigenous civilizations).