Where to move

Hi! My husband and I are relocating this year and are considering Medellin, Ecuador and Panama City.  I have been to these countries many times as a traveler and I can tell you they are much more safe than most big cities in the United States say , Atlanta for example or Chicago. I am fully bilingual so language is not a barrier for me but if English and schools are key to you, Panamá it is.

I've found Colombia to be a safe place to live but we are outside of the city.  My Colombian wife wanted my transition in Colombia to be easy as possible, so she transitioned her job from Medellin to a smaller town.

The people here in Colombia seem to be friendly, but you need to keep your wits and guard up.  There are places in Medellin that i would stay away from at night, but the same could be said for Houston, TX where i lived. 

Robberies do occur, even in our nice community, and the police had to set up station to ward off the culprits.  But i feel safe walking to the local stores for shopping.

Cost of living in Colombia is cheaper for food, health insurance and utilities than the U.S.

So you have some options. When you hear that Colombia is not safe that is a generalization. However, if you go to Bucaramanga Colombia, or any of the towns around this city, you will have lots of nature, superb weather and one of the safest places to live in all latin america. It is also known as the city of parks and the beautiful city, because it is. I have traveled there many times with my wife who is from scandinavia and we had a great time and nobody bothered. Another great place I recommend is Costa Rica, I didn't like San Jose too much, but the outside areas are spectacular and there is almost no crime what so ever, it is probably safer than London or Paris or any US cities and you will see lots of nature, outside our hotel every morning there were iguanas the size of small dogs just strolling around, quite cute. Either place you will love it, both have English schools for kids and there are foreigners so you won't be the only one, take care!