What would be the best way to get in touch with you? I think that my trip to Peru is set. I talked to the family we will be living with this weekend. It took forever to put this all together, but it looks like it is now a go. I can’t wait to be immersed in the Spanish language and to learn more about Peru.

Susan

btw, LOVE Jose Luis Orozco, no?!

awesome – I’ll look forward to talking further…

x, A

I lived in Spain and Japan. I do love living abroad and may do it again in the future. Now that I am married it might be trickier. For now, I’ll be using my summer vacation to travel.

Susan

I definitely see the need to put this information out their for other families. There is very little out there and the research is extensive. Maybe we could collaborate and really make it happen. It would be so much easier if there was somewhere to go for help. I had to do it all on my own, even researching any immunizations needed and what to do about the altitude. I think that my research for the Peru trip is pretty much wrapped up. I am very excited since a homestay family with a little girl the same age as my eldest son has been found. I will be calling them this weekend! Fortunately my husband and I have traveled extensively and we are pretty flexible. The kids just go along for the ride. They seem to take it all in stride.

I am already starting to look into our next trip which will probably be Costa Rica in 2012. I have been there before prior to children, but my husband’s company has an office there so maybe we can combine work and a summer abroad.

By the way, I am in the OC (Huntington Beach). I love to visit LA too. I took the kids to the Jose Luis Orozco concert in Santa Monica last Friday and we are going to LeaLa tomorrow.

Looking forward to hearing more about your trip.

Susan

On the other hand, we dream of possibly trying this elsewhere. Without a personal connection in the new place, however, I think that you’d need to allow yourself the time to do your own research in situ/the country, so to speak. I love the idea of it, but having the time to figure it all out seems like a far off dream…

Another idea I like to throw around is… wouldn’t it be cool if we all collected and assembled all of the information that you’d need to do this with families all around the world? It’s not brain surgery, but the details do seem overwhelming to track down at times. And it’s one thing to do it in a country where you can communicate, but when I tried to explore the idea in France without any French, it seemed really complicated… anyway, let’s please share all of this. I can only imagine it benefitting our children and their generation (OK, and really fun for us).

Thanks, Susan…
A

Thanks for reading – and your comments! I would be so interested to hear YOUR take on living here, and Mexico City, and other recommendations for travel within the country.

I’ve travelled (prior to children) a lot in Central America for work and for pleasure. I had never visited San Miguel de Allende and really knew nothing about it until a friend of ours invited us to his home several years in a row. At the time, we politely declined (repeatedly) citing our desire to visit the ocean instead for our limited vacation dates. One year we accepted his generous invitation and quite frankly, I fell in love. Yes, there is a large ex-pat scene. But my reality is that I have three young children. If I can stay anywhere longer than a week than it is typically without my husband due to his demanding work schedule. Consequently, San Miguel is a really good fit for us – I can easily manage being a single-ish mom here, he can travel here on a moments notice with a 3 hour flight, and most people (Mexican, American, Canadian, European, etc.) are very gracious and accept the returning visitors every year as if it is a very normal way of living. I have found schools and friends to be very open to mid-year visits or enrollment. Also, I don’t entirely mind the ex-pat scene – I don’t know if it is because it is a self-selecting community, but again, generally they are all very kind, interesting, and here for similar reasons as myself. Admittedly, my children are quite relieved to meet other kids who speak some English, so I guess you could say that it’s not all immersive linguistically. Again, however, I’m OK with all of that. I want this to be a positive experience for them, not one that they loathe. I am as much interested in my kids having a positive cultural experience as a positive linguistic one – and at 5 & 7 years old, my boys are very keen to have friends for playdates. I think the social interaction for them is key to all of it, so if they have friends that are bilingual then awesome – I just stress how amazingly intelligent those bilinguals are
All that said, we are totally interested in visiting other parts of the country. And while the cultural hotbeds (Oaxaca, Chiapas, Yucatan, Cuernavaca, etc.) are super enticing, I am really excited to visit Mexico City! the archeology, museums… I’ve been dying to feel the energy of one of the most cosmopolitan cities in the world for a long while. So, please, I’d love recs for the City in addition to other areas of the country.
It’s really not that we chose SMA over another city, but it’s just so easy to do here given our restraints and limitations. And again, this is a truly beautiful city, UNESCO World Heritage Site – not so bad. I am happy to live in a place so different from Los Angeles, because that IS my home. I was looking for a different experience for my family, so I like the small city, cobble stone streets, policia on horseback, and campo at our fingertips. Hopefully, however, this serves as a springboard to travel and live in other places as our future develops… so please, please, tell me where we should go while here – there is nothing I love more than a new adventure with my kids! gracias…