Sunday, July 16, 2006

THE MOVE!!

My wife and 2 small children finally moved to Honduras in mid June. She has not run into problems as of yet. Maybe the only one was the kids' school, in the sense that since its the capital, I guess the demand for available spaces is a lot more. We were unable to find space for both our boys in our 2 top choices - they would take one but not the other. It seems the younger the children the harder it is to get in. We did however, find a spot for both in another bilingual school (which I will admit was my kids favorite!). The first line of business was to get internet service (so we could use vonage) and call the US every day. Our biggest expense is the children's school, everything else is minor in comparison to Louisiana, except maybe the internet service. The school is 60% foreigners and I guess that is the reason why it is so expensive, but.. my kids fell in love with it. We reached our decision of what schools to apply to by finding out how many children from the graduating class were going abroad for collage. There are more than 3 excellent bilingual schools, of course. Our house should be finished in march and we have not run into any major problems as of yet. We hired an engineer to build the house and she seems to be doing a good job. It will be ready in about 9 months (February 2007). ... We just bought a car, a 2006 SUV Hyundai Santa Fe Diesel 2x4, for $27,000. I am including prices because I have received several emails requesting specific information. The children are enrolled in Tennis camp right now and it is $75 a month for 2 hours a day/5 days/week with about 4-5 kids/instructer. Food is relatively cheap, about $50/week for all 3. Energy bill is around $80/month -it can be cheaper, but my wife does not care for drying clothes in the sun. The maid is $200/month full time for a GOOD one. You can find one cheaper with no experience. Minimum wage is abouth $155/month. Our budget is about $1,800/month for all 3 of them. We have not checked health insurance costs yet but we will keep you informed. But to give you an idea on the cost of medical care, our attorney just had a tummy tuck for $3,000 (all costs included). The cost of a doctors visit (US/Europe graduate) is about $25 without insurance. There are of course cheaper doctors, specially in small towns. To all those who have sent emails, I hope this helps.