Help us choose a south or Central American town for a 1 year sabbatical with a kid

[Anonymous]

We plan to spend a few vacations checking out possible locations for our year abroad and would love ideas. Here are our requirements:

-Spanish speaking country in central or South America.

-a school that is on the US academic calendar, if possible. We are prepared to pay for private as needed. We are hoping for some instruction in Spanish (kid is in a dcps bilingual school now).

-natural beauty. We’d love to stay out of big cities and live somewhere beautiful. The issue is finding a smaller town with an adequate school.

Any ideas of countries and areas we should research? Great small/mid sized towns in Mexico, Guatemala, Costa Rica or other spots that have enough ex pats that there’s a school that could work for our purposes? We love travel, new food, hiking, mountains, beaches, rustic settings, etc.

[Anonymous]

Buenos Aires

[Anonymous]

BA is a great city, but we’re hoping to be outside of a big city if possible. We live in a big city in the US and see this as a chance to do something very different. We need enough of a town to have a school, but we are hoping for more rustic/nature oriented.

[Anonymous]

It's in North America, but since you mentioned Mexico, look at San Miguel de Allende. There's a big expat community and it's beautiful.

[Anonymous]

Check out Las Catalinas in Costa Rica. We knew of several US families who spent a year or more there with their kids. There are 2 schools, La Paz school plus another, both bilingual. I think La Paz has IB and AP classes.

[Anonymous]

Op here. Sorry! Should have said Mexico, central or South America. We want a spanish speaking country with a minimal time difference for work reasons.

Thanks for this suggestion! Keep them coming!

[Anonymous]

Could you define what “outside a big city”means? Also, major dealbreakers or logistic needs?

What level of cost and development are looking for? Are we talking a small rural village in Chiapas or a modern, high-rise on the coast of Chile?

[Anonymous]

PP here – Almost all LATAM is within 0-2 hours of EST.

[Anonymous]

I know two families who did long stints in Panama and Colombia. Both enjoyed it.

[Anonymous]

I hope you are cool with bribery.

[Anonymous]

Antigua is the obvious answer

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Check out Las Catalinas in Costa Rica. We knew of several US families who spent a year or more there with their kids. There are 2 schools, La Paz school plus another, both bilingual. I think La Paz has IB and AP classes.

Las Catalinas is pretty bougie. It's pretty far from OP's "rustic setting" requirement. It would be like going to spend a year staying on a resort.

[Anonymous]

Op here. Our ideal is a small town with a village center that has some food options. We also want enough expats to support a school (hopefully bilingual or mostly Spanish instruction). We’d love to be in mountains or near water.

We don’t want a high rise in a big city. Our hope is for a quiet year near beautiful scenery. We can live relatively simply for a year.

We realize that, in order to find a school, we may need to be in a small city over a tiny town…but our preference is to avoid a big city if possible. We live in a city here and want a quieter life for a year.

By way of example, we spent a year in a small-ish town in Peru that was a tourist town for South Americans (so it has some restaurants) and it had enough expats for a small K-3 school. We got our groceries at small tiendas with roosters hopping around and cows crossing the streets…but we could also grab pizza in town or ceviche on the beach. The size was perfect for us. We want something similar but in a new location (both to explore something new and because that town really didn’t have any schools for older noncitizen kids—most expats ended up sending older kids to online schools, which is not our preference. We want our kid socializing in Spanish).

The suggestions so far have been good. Keep them coming!

[Anonymous]

Op here: if the person who posted “Panama and Colombia” let me know where their friend stayed, that’d be great. We are looking to identify specific towns, not just the country, if possible. I appreciate the help!

It’s more challenging that I thought to find specific towns that meet our requirements on various expat forums!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Op here: if the person who posted “Panama and Colombia” let me know where their friend stayed, that’d be great. We are looking to identify specific towns, not just the country, if possible. I appreciate the help!

It’s more challenging that I thought to find specific towns that meet our requirements on various expat forums!

I'm not the same person, but my college-age DC just spent a semester abroad in Bocas del Toro, Panama, and I think it checks a lot of your boxes. It’s very family-friendly, with a strong expat community, private schools on the U.S. calendar, and incredible natural beauty: crystal-clear Caribbean beaches for snorkeling and scuba diving, as well as bigger wave beaches (there’s a big surf culture), rainforests with howler monkeys and sloths, colorful birds, and hiking. Panama uses the U.S. dollar, which makes things simple, and there’s a small hospital on Isla Colón. You can live on a quieter island if you prefer, while still having Isla Colón nearby for schools, shops, and the airport.

https://www.facebook.com/groups/161888615894717/posts/1125887916161444/

https://livinginbocasdeltoro.com/calling-all-families/

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j0u269Xcvu8

https://redfrogproperty.com/blog/11-reasons-why-you-should-move-to-bocas-del-toro-panama/#:~:text=Between%20its%20crystalline%20waters%20and,points%20scattered%20across%20the%20archipelago.