Hi Matthew's wife
,
I'm sorry for the late response, I was waiting for a good time to sit down and respond properly. That moment didn't come until now.
I feel very safe here, crime has gone up a bit the last couple of years but we haven't seen any of it. A few weeks ago they arrested two brothers and everyone is expecting crime to drop remarkedly. That's how small the place is, although it is growing at an alarming rate.
I walk home from work, from town to my house, at night without a second thought. Naturally, I take precautions and don't take the shortcut through the dark woods.
I go hiking on my own, and with my kids (4, 6 and 9) as well as let them play unsupervised on the street where we live. You see many free-range kids here.
There is one private school that has Spanish in the morning and English in the afternoon. The level of English is poor though, and only offered from age 5. They have morning daycare from 2-4 (I think).
There are many private daycare options, 4 hrs a day 5 days a week is about 3500 pesos per month now. We have our kids in state school although the hours that they spend there are few and it makes it hard for me to have a full time job. With rcidency you should be able to access either morning OR afternoon stat run daycare from the age of 4 for free.
I would not live here without a car! I am currently without and we spend a lot of time walking to and from work, school and shopping. It is possible, and maybe even ideal if the point is to slow down. Buying a car is expensive and I have heard that you can't cross the border with your own car if you have a temporary visa. ???
We have many good private healthcare options that you can utilise by paying upfront, ( a doctors visit is 300 pesos) or by having a health insurance. We have a good one with Galeno through my husbands work. There is a good Public hospital here in Villa for emergencies, but I don't use it for day to day checkups since the appointment system is flawed. For any major issues you would be transferred to Bariloche, or Buenos Aires. Actually the private sector is huge because maybe doctors and dentists from Buenos Aires wants to live here.
As far as I am aware there is no expat community at all. We are some foreigners, well as far as I know only me and a British lady, but there are quite a few that speak English. If you come here it would give me an incentive to start those English speaking play dates that I have been thinking about for a while now.
It might be a challenge to find the perfect house to rent, but if you are able to pay around 8000 pesos per month it shouldn't be a problem. There is a lack of housing here, specially affordable such for a family on minimum wage. But the larger object might be available. Most houses are reserved for temporary rent and the owners make as much money renting it out over the three months that the tourist come as renting it out all year.
Any other question just ask and I'll answer, if not the same day at least by Sunday.
