Where would you live for a 1 year sabbatical (must be this hemisphere)

[Anonymous]

I have a one year sabbatical from a university job and my husband works remotely for an international startup that will allow him to work from any location. My early elementary school aged kid is pretty much bilingual (English-Spanish), and we are hoping to further develop her Spanish.

We want to identify a small town (not a big city) in a Spanish speaking country where she can go to school. We are fine paying for a private/international school, but want most instruction in Spanish. She’s a good student and she’s young, so we are not super concerned with the quality of the education beyond having it in Spanish. We are ok either with the US school year schedule or the south/central American schedule.

The only other considerations besides school are finding a beautiful spot with lots of access to nature.

I would love specific recommendations—e.g. a particular town or school, as opposed to suggesting a whole country. We are really open to all ideas. If you’ve lived somewhere in central/South America or have vacationed somewhere you could imagine living for a year (that’s not a huge city), I would love to hear about it.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I have a one year sabbatical from a university job and my husband works remotely for an international startup that will allow him to work from any location. My early elementary school aged kid is pretty much bilingual (English-Spanish), and we are hoping to further develop her Spanish.

We want to identify a small town (not a big city) in a Spanish speaking country where she can go to school. We are fine paying for a private/international school, but want most instruction in Spanish. She’s a good student and she’s young, so we are not super concerned with the quality of the education beyond having it in Spanish. We are ok either with the US school year schedule or the south/central American schedule.

The only other considerations besides school are finding a beautiful spot with lots of access to nature.

I would love specific recommendations—e.g. a particular town or school, as opposed to suggesting a whole country. We are really open to all ideas. If you’ve lived somewhere in central/South America or have vacationed somewhere you could imagine living for a year (that’s not a huge city), I would love to hear about it.

Must be this hemisphere.

Where are you a professor, and what do you teach that you do not know that South America is not this hemisphere?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I have a one year sabbatical from a university job and my husband works remotely for an international startup that will allow him to work from any location. My early elementary school aged kid is pretty much bilingual (English-Spanish), and we are hoping to further develop her Spanish.

We want to identify a small town (not a big city) in a Spanish speaking country where she can go to school. We are fine paying for a private/international school, but want most instruction in Spanish. She’s a good student and she’s young, so we are not super concerned with the quality of the education beyond having it in Spanish. We are ok either with the US school year schedule or the south/central American schedule.

The only other considerations besides school are finding a beautiful spot with lots of access to nature.

I would love specific recommendations—e.g. a particular town or school, as opposed to suggesting a whole country. We are really open to all ideas. If you’ve lived somewhere in central/South America or have vacationed somewhere you could imagine living for a year (that’s not a huge city), I would love to hear about it.

Must be this hemisphere.

Where are you a professor, and what do you teach that you do not know that South America is not this hemisphere?

University job. Not a professor. NVMD

[Anonymous]

Do you mean Western Hemisphere? I'm confused on your geographical limitations (or maybe you are).

[Anonymous]

The problem with small towns is that you will inevitably get bored really quick. There are some great mid sized cities (300-600k pop.) in Colombia though.

Manizales, Armenia, and Bucaramanga are great cities that are overlooked by most travelers. Anywhere in the coffee triangle will have amazing access to nature and small pueblos that are usually just a short bus ride away. Public transport is really good if you are in the city. You will probably have a better overall experience if you live in a walkable neighborhood in the city. That's been my experience anyway. I'd avoid countries and areas with too many Americans like Costa Rica or Panama, but it just depends on what kind of experience you're after.

[Anonymous]

Costa Rica
Monteverde possibly, but other towns too

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Costa Rica
Monteverde possibly, but other towns too

Monteverde Friends School
Cloud Forest School

[Anonymous]

Ok, idiots..."hemisphere" means half of a sphere. The Earth is the "sphere". So, "this hemisphere" could mean - I am guessing as we are DC-centric - northern or western. I assumed western which would include South America.

[Anonymous]

My friends in tech lived in Cabarete, DR for a few years when their kid was young. They left NYC because it was costing them like $85K between preschool & nanny and their money would go so much further in the DR.

It's a world renowned small town for kite surfing. Gorgeous beaches. Excellent international school. Great expat scene with lots of families. Short flight back to the U.S. They had an incredible luxury apartment in a development on the beach for around $2500/month.

They moved back here about a year ago, but are thinking of going back to the DR.

[Anonymous]

If you mean Northern hemisphere Spain is lota of fun, good health care, connections to other countries on the cheap.
If you mean western hemisphere the big challenge is poor health care and super expensive and limited travel options.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Costa Rica
Monteverde possibly, but other towns too

Monteverde Friends School
Cloud Forest School

I just realized you wanted instruction in Spanish not English. So these schools wont' work; but still, Monteverde is an amazing town and would be a great home base to travel the rest of the country on weekends, as well as Panama, Nicaragua etc. Hiking etc in Monteverde is unmatched.

[Anonymous]

We lived in Cordoba, Argentina for a year with DS. We lived a little outside the city but there was still a lot to do and we could easily go into the city. When we were there, there was also a large ex pat population that was able to help us get situated. DH and I talk about moving back all the time.

[Anonymous]

The countries that come to mind:

Costa Rica
Belize
Panama
Colombia
Argentina

[Anonymous]

Barranquilla, Colombia

[Anonymous]

OP, what size city are we talking about?