Raising Bilingual Kids in Colombia as an American Family

Arielle Tucker (00:00.884)

Moving abroad with kids is not just a logistical decision. It's a family decision. Today I'm joined by Alyssa Bolaños, the bilingual Latina creator behind Casa Belanos, who moved with her husband and two young boys from the US to Colombia. We'll talk about raising global kids, reconnecting with your culture, and what happens when home because something becomes something that you choose. So, Alyssa, thank you so much for joining me today.

Alyssa Bolaños (00:26.382)

Thank you so much for having me, I'm so excited.

Arielle Tucker (00:29.13)

Okay, I was reading your bio and I was so amazed. So you were born in Tunisia, you were raised in New York City, you have Cuban, Colombian, Italian, and Spanish roots. I can't even imagine what it's like growing up in your growing up in your house.

Alyssa Bolaños (00:46.11)

loud for one. I always joke that I've been culturally confused or a cultural chameleon, if you will, because I've just existed in this crossroads and and being raised in New York City is just such an international melting pot that I've always just felt comfortable within cultures.

Arielle Tucker (01:05.674)

Yeah, that's I mean, I think that's great. I always think about all of our friends from New York City and they always, you know, it's such a it's such a melting pot. And I think when you're growing up in a big city like that, you're just naturally more comfortable with people from different cultures, the idea of potentially moving to other countries cultures. I mean, was that a conversation that you were having growing up? Like was it kind of assumed at some point you would leave or were you were you like the prodigal like child, like the American dream? Like what what was it like for you?

Alyssa Bolaños (01:30.284)

Ha ha ha.

Arielle Tucker (01:35.678)

Yeah.

Alyssa Bolaños (01:36.5)

It was actually so in Spanish we have this saying, ni de aquí, ni de allá, which is I'm not from here, I'm not from there. And I I grew up with that kind of feeling that I knew I was not born in the States, but I was raised in the States. But we're also not really raised with the traditional American right values because our household was very Cuban, very Latino. so I never kind of felt I belonged, really. I mean in New York City I did just because it is this global place, but I knew

knew I was gonna leave and it kinda made me a black sheep of my family because they sacrificed so much to migrate to the US, nobody could understand why I would wanna leave.

Arielle Tucker (02:16.08)

Mm. And so when did you actually first start imagining like leaving the United States?

Alyssa Bolaños (02:22.838)

probably I would say 2012 I started traveling by myself and realizing, the world is amazing, right? It's not just the borders that I live in. and that I just started traveling more and more and kind of getting that itch, and my family's what is going on? Like, what is wrong with you?

Arielle Tucker (02:45.373)

Was there a lot of pressure or discussions with them about staying in New York or staying in the US?

Alyssa Bolaños (02:53.356)

I don't know if there was pressures per se. so I I I thought I was gonna leave after university. I thought I was gonna work at like an embassy or be working in an NGO or something. So I think they just thought, my work would take me somewhere. but there wasn't really like pressure to stay, other than like lat Latino family values is like everyone kinda stays close. so there was kind of that, like, but how could you leave us? But nobody I'm not sure if they took me seriously.

That I would do it.

Arielle Tucker (03:23.091)

Hmm. Yeah. Now let's talk a little bit about your husband. Like, did you guys meet in the States or did you meet traveling?

Alyssa Bolaños (03:30.848)

We met in the States but we met at the airport. So we actually used to both work at LaGuardia Airport. we worked in a restaurant there. I wish we had flight benefits, but we worked together there and that's where we met.

Arielle Tucker (03:33.982)

Okay.

Arielle Tucker (03:44.296)

I was imagining you guys were like you know, I don't transient passengers meeting Yes. Yes. Okay, so he was also living in the States. He was also in New York. You guys meet in New York. He's Colombian born. So like when did you guys start having family discussions about

Alyssa Bolaños (03:47.848)

that would be such a like a meat cute, right? I wish.

Arielle Tucker (04:06.271)

Having like take, you know, you get married, you have some you have two kids, when do you have family discussions about where do we raise these children?

Alyssa Bolaños (04:14.562)

So actually funny enough, we've lived opposite lives. He was born in New York to Colombian parents, but left as a small child. and was raised in Colombia and then went to the States. So he when we met, I was almost graduating university and I told him I wan I wanna live in Colombia. Like that was always my dream. I was just I was raised, I have Colombian cousins, I was just always around it and I

Arielle Tucker (04:20.232)

Okay.

Alyssa Bolaños (04:36.888)

thought I wanted to I knew I wanted to live here. And he was like, no. He's like, maybe I'll retire there. But he felt like he missed out on life in the States. so, you know, back and forth we were like, all right, one day we'll retire. And 202 2024, 2025, we were kind of having like some rough time in the States. my grandma was sick and then the current administration was kind of the last straw. we also had a safety issue in my kids' school and

That was his last straw. That's when he realized, okay, like this school system here does not care about our kids. You win, let's go. And I was like, yay! But we weren't sure if we were gonna come to Colombia. We were toying with Spain because we also have family there. We just we knew we wanted to be in a Spanish-speaking country to strengthen our kids bilingual bilingualism.

Arielle Tucker (05:13.322)

Wow.

Arielle Tucker (05:28.521)

And how do you guys when before you moved, were you only speaking to them in Spanish or was it s one person was speaking Spanish and the other person was speaking English? Like how did you guys interact as a family?

Alyssa Bolaños (05:39.779)

We were a very bilingual household. It wasn't like one parent, one parent. when our kids were very young, it was mostly only Spanish. But my parents, my my my dad is technically my stepdad and he he's not Latino, so they would be speaking English with them, but my in-laws only speak Spanish. So it was a very balanced bilingual household. We would do Spanish Saturdays and just only speak Spanish.

But they also wouldn't want to speak Spanish with us. With everyone else they would, but with mom and dad, they're like no.

Arielle Tucker (06:11.659)

that's so interesting. Yeah, I think we don't give kids enough credit because they're also kind of like third culture kids, right? Like you and your husband very much third culture kids and now you have your own children and you're creating your own family culture.

Alyssa Bolaños (06:19.042)

Yeah.

Alyssa Bolaños (06:27.456)

Yeah, it's really interesting. and I mean, even the difference now that we live abroad and live in a Spanish speaking country, now they'll speak to us in Spanish. But like it it was a little bit of teeth pulling and trying to figure out, you know, they're so young, so they're like, What do you mean? Wait, we're Colombian, but we live here, so now that they're getting older they're kind of understanding that whole dynamic.

Arielle Tucker (06:46.057)

Okay, so when did you move to Columbia and how old were the kids at that point?

Alyssa Bolaños (06:52.01)

So we technically moved in August of last year of twenty twenty-five, but we spent three months in Uruguay. So we we got to Colombia, we were here for a little bit, then we left, but then we came back November twenty twenty five and we've been here ever since.

Arielle Tucker (07:08.459)

Can I ask why you you spent the time in Uruguay? Like was it a visa issue? What like what was just exploring different countries? What was the reason?

Alyssa Bolaños (07:13.886)

so it was actually s

It was a really cool company that world schools kids. So for they have three month, six month nine month programs where you can the kids are at an education center, the parents have a co working space, but it really kinda helps with this idea of raising global children. They're in a school they're

kinda speaking both languages, they're really inset into the culture. So we thought it would be a really good opportunity for them. I've always wanted to go to Uruguay and I never thought it was gonna happen. So when I was like, we can live there for a few months, let's go. We're already down there, we're already in South America, let's go. So we just we took that opportunity, just for it was just a three month program and then came back to Colombia.

Arielle Tucker (07:57.996)

Okay, so they're in New York, they're going to school in New York, then they are doing the world school program in Uruguay, and then what did when you move them into Colombia, are they in an international school? Do they go to local school? Like how and also separate question, but I'm just excited about it. How did you pick the city that you live in now in Colombia?

Alyssa Bolaños (08:17.846)

So, so actually sort of like backtrack. So our kids were born in New York, but we lived in Orlando the last few years before we left. so after the incident in my kids' schools, we started homeschooling. Because once that happened, it kind of things kinda happened all at once. And that was our sign, like, okay, we're gonna pull them from school. We're gonna homeschool because we know we're leaving. So we're not gonna disrupt their studies. This was in like February or March.

So there's only what three months left of school. We're like, we're not gonna put them in a new school just to leave. So we started homeschooling, so we're homeschooling now. we do plan to put them in a school in Colombia, but the school system here is different. School starts in January. S and they don't let kids like start half the year, which is a little frustrating, but so we are still homeschooling until January. Mm-hmm.

Arielle Tucker (09:01.577)

Wow, that's crazy. So if you move mid year, you can't start just start the year. Okay. So I mean that's like something you really have to think about and and consider. It's it's not a point I've ever had in my checklist of check when you can en enroll in the new school system. That's a really interesting

Alyssa Bolaños (09:06.786)

That's what I'm saying.

Alyssa Bolaños (09:18.156)

And this it's something that we didn't like plan ahead for. and maybe if we planned ahead, we would have been able to get in. I mean, we were here in January, so we would have been able to start them, but we're very much wing it. do first, ask questions later. so it's a learning experience for sure. yeah, we were not prepared for that. and in Colombia, the city we are in, so we're in Medellin. My husband's from Cali, Colombia, which is

Maybe like four or five hours away driving. But we picked Mei Jean because it is very accessible. We have a metro here and it

Was the only city with a metro. Now Bogota has one, but very walkable. There's a lot of nature. And growing up and living in New York City, that accessibility was huge. When we lived in Orlando, we struggled very much with not being able to walk anywhere, not even because of the heat, but there's no infrastructure for pedestrian life. Not even bikes. Like it's very dangerous to have a bike there, too. And that was our big thing. We wanted an accessible city. We wanted to be able to walk around and not be

Arielle Tucker (10:11.445)

Yeah.

Alyssa Bolaños (10:24.504)

car reliant and that's why we chose Medagene.

Arielle Tucker (10:27.775)

How big is the city?

Alyssa Bolaños (10:29.996)

It's pretty big. I mean, I don't know, like comp I can't compare it to another city, but it's it's pretty big and there's you know, there's a city proper and then there's like the surrounding towns which is still kinda considered Medellin. 'cause it could take you easily an hour to get from one end to the other.

Arielle Tucker (10:45.353)

Okay, so it's like a big city, but they do have the infrastructure and then you do have access to nature, which is really important to you. Do you find like do people like bike a lot there? Are they mostly reliant on public transportation? Like culturally, like how do people in Columbia tr tr get to work and get around in their own city?

Alyssa Bolaños (10:47.085)

Yeah.

Alyssa Bolaños (11:04.664)

I mean yeah, there's obviously people have cars here and there's a lot of cars. but the metro system is so great that a lot of people do rely on it. the metro system consists of like the actual like train metro, there's a bus system and my gosh, I forgot how to say it in English, the teleferico, like the cable car. Cable car system. So and then a lot of people bike, especially where we live. Medellin is known for being very hilly, but we live in a very flat area, so you see people biking and rollerblading all the time.

Arielle Tucker (11:33.834)

Okay, whenever I hear Colombia and think about living there, I immediately think about safety. So can we talk about that for a little bit? Like it how does it feel being an American Colombian living in Colombia? Do you feel safe? Are there things that you have to be aware of? Like, how do you live differently? I mean, you know you were talking about a little bit about like safety issues in the schools in the US, and now we live in Colombia. How does how does that how I don't know? Can you just talk us through what that's like?

Alyssa Bolaños (12:00.365)

S yeah. Well schools are way safer than the states. We don't have the same issue that the US has, you know, with safety. Yes, we are. I didn't know if I could like name that. Yeah. There's no there are no active shooter drills, yeah.

Arielle Tucker (12:09.247)

Are we talking about active shooter drills or what are we talking about

No, I please name it because just like sidebar, this is actually one of the reasons why our family decided to move back to Europe. Was we moved our daughter back to New York when she was four. And we were she did preschool in the Jewish community center, active shooter drills at age four. Then we went to the public kindergarten and active shooter drills. And even at the Jewish community center, there was like a bomb threat one day. And

Alyssa Bolaños (12:41.839)

Mm.

Arielle Tucker (12:42.879)

The fact that everyone could just pretend like this was normal and this was a reality that they were fine with. Where in my reality, having spent the past six years in Switzerland before moving back to New York, you didn't have this. Like this just didn't happen. Safety was just everything operated in a different way. And I just was like, wow.

kind of like what you were saying in the beginning, when you start traveling, you start to see glimpses of different people's realities and you start to recognize that your like there are other options than your own reality. And so my husband and I, after moving to New York, within like the first six months, we were like, actually, we would like our exit plan and we were very intentional about coming back to Europe because we were like, why would we raise our children in these like lockdown schools where

It was like a little community school, right? We part of the reason we picked our neighborhood, it was a little community school. But if I walked there, one, it wasn't safe to walk there because there was no cross crosswalk or crossing guard and people would just like fly by, you know, 70 miles an hour in a 35 without any care to the world. and then if I forgot my ID because I was walking, they wouldn't let me in, even though they knew who I was, because it was like, well, this is our policy, you have to have your ID and you can't pick up your daughter because she can just take the bus home anyways.

Like just all these like little things, it just drove me in absolutely insane. And we had been in a country where at four she was like walking home by herself from school and that was like safe. That was that was totally safe. And I'm like, wow, okay, I just I choose a different reality. So anyways, sorry to interrupt you, but I just wanna put that in because that that resonates so much with me that I'm glad that you you kind of had that similar experience.

Alyssa Bolaños (14:13.052)

Mm a huge difference. Yeah.

Alyssa Bolaños (14:28.631)

Yeah. I mean and imagine like living in Florida too. I like grew up in New York City. We never had issues like that, but you know, it's a different it's a different world now. And in Florida, where anyone can have a gun and conceal it and this and that, it was just scary. And and we don't have gun like issues here, right? Like there is violence in

Arielle Tucker (14:46.825)

Wait, so there's no cl there's you don't can you just buy a gun in Colombia? I mean what there's no gun issues? That's crazy to me.

Alyssa Bolaños (14:52.991)

No, I mean there people have guns, right? There's a I'm not negating the presence of violence, right? Violence, but in schools, that's not a thing. Like that there are not school shootings, you don't have active shooter drills, like it's not even a thought. It just doesn't happen here. And of course, there's like safety at the gates, right? When you before you go in anywhere. but yeah, I mean, people have guns. There is violence. And and Columbia gets a bad rap. And even our family, even my husband's family, who

Arielle Tucker (14:56.896)

Okay.

Arielle Tucker (15:00.925)

Mm, okay.

Alyssa Bolaños (15:21.707)

was, you know, lived here their whole lives, born here, raised. Why are you going to Colombia? Colombia of all places. And I traveled to Colombia solo. That was one of my first solo trips was traveling here to visit friends and family. And I've it I've felt safer here than in many developed countries, which I hate that term too, but it's not the same Colombia that it was in the 80s and 90s. A lot has changed. And yes, there are areas that are

Arielle Tucker (15:31.359)

Really?

Alyssa Bolaños (15:51.138)

a little worse than others, right? There are areas that but that's like everywhere. Here in Medellin, you're gonna have a lot of petty crimes. So a lot of people stealing, like they're gonna try to steal your phone.

Arielle Tucker (15:55.423)

Mm-hmm.

Alyssa Bolaños (16:02.563)

But again, I grew up in New York City. I'm like, this is common sense to me, right? You stay aware of your surroundings. In Colombia there's a term called no dar papaya, which is just like you're not gonna give them a reason, right? Like you're not gonna walk around super flashy. You're not gonna be walking around with your phone like this and like your crazy camera. But you know, people still do it and they're also fine. So I just think that people like, you know, Hollywood and the media sensationalizes, right? The whole narcos and all this stuff, and that's just it's just not the reality here.

Arielle Tucker (16:05.599)

Mm-hmm.

Arielle Tucker (16:33.225)

Okay. Thank you for sharing that because I think I mean that's the first thing I thought about with Columbia was like, is it safe? And I'm just imagining cocaine everywhere and violence and God said

Alyssa Bolaños (16:43.233)

And it's it's not like that. I mean, I will say, you know, people come here and there's sex tourism and and that narcotourism, but not narco tourism in the sense of like they're here to do drugs, but it's that Pablo Escobar and everyone's like, my gosh, Pablo and and let me tell you, do not ever say that to a Colombian because like it's just he Pablo Escobar was a horrible person.

he did horrible things, right? And and people do not like him here. And the fact that people come here and buy shirts with his face on it, that's like buying a face with like bin Laden and walking around the US, right? Like you just don't do that. So it's like it's it's just not the same country. They've done so much work to make sure that they don't go back into that.

And it's really beautiful. I mean, Columbia's the second most biodiverse country in the world. There's some incredible places here, the coffee, right? Like it's just so it's a it's an amazing country and I hate that it gets that bad rap. And that's why I try to share what I do about our life here to show that it's not what people think.

Arielle Tucker (17:33.144)

wow.

Arielle Tucker (17:46.624)

And

I was saying this before we started hit hit record. I have loved following you on Instagram because you have such a beautiful feed and sharing things that are happening in your life in Colombia. And you can kind of see the backdrop. And you're also doing it in Spanish and English. And it's just it's a it's a really it's a really beautiful platform that you have created and I'm really enjoying. It's like I love I love, you know, social media because you can just get these little slices into other people's realities, which

Alyssa Bolaños (17:52.473)

Thank you.

Alyssa Bolaños (18:16.493)

Yeah.

Arielle Tucker (18:17.173)

20 years ago, we didn't have that. And so we are really able to take that information and kind of really optimize a bit on our life, right? To figure out what resonates with me? What values do I have that would make Columbia a potentially a great fit for me in my family? And I actually, that would be my next question: is what are the values that make Columbia a great fit for your family?

Alyssa Bolaños (18:42.201)

Colombia is very family oriented, very family friendly, and I I almost say like designed for families. In the US, it's a lot of kids should be seen and not heard. And in Colombia, you go to the mall and there's a million play spaces for kids. You go to a restaurant and there's a placepace for kids. Kids are out late, like everyone's at the park. Community is big here.

Like family and community are very big and it's something that I've always loved about Columbia. I think they've also been named like some of the friendliest people in the world because people generally want to help you and just like be be nice, and and I think that's amazing for families. the schools are incredible here, they are very strict with school, but in a good way, because kids do learn so much. Can't join mid-year.

Arielle Tucker (19:26.023)

We we already know that you can't join mid year. So what other what other what other strict things do they have?

Alyssa Bolaños (19:32.868)

Well they're just very what's the word?

they they're just very strict on like the the core curriculum. And kids here in a lot of schools, not all, like public schools, you probably won't have this, but some of the like Catholic or private schools, kids can graduate with three degrees at the same time. they can graduate the Columbian degree, a US degree, and a technical degree, which is not an option in the state. Like that's almost unheard of graduating high school. they also graduate a year less. So they just they learn so much that they don't need they graduate year eleven.

Arielle Tucker (19:55.37)

Okay.

Alyssa Bolaños (20:06.871)

essentially high school instead of year twelve. and and my god, it's just it is it is made for families. Like we we don't feel weird bringing our kids anywhere. There's a lot of priority lines for families in a lot of places you go to whether it be bureaucratic stuff or tourist stuff, like kids and families are prioritized here and it's really refreshing compared to the states that you're just you don't have that village or support.

Arielle Tucker (20:33.607)

Mm-hmm. When you guys were actually preparing for the move, you're both Colombians, so I imagine there really weren't any visa issues. Were you able to just literally be like, Okay, we have the passport, so like let's just move to Columbia? I mean how can you talk me through like you know you want to move there, but what were some of the practical steps that you actually had to take to to make it happen?

Alyssa Bolaños (20:57.007)

So I'm not Colombian. my mom's Cuban. but we I I through marriage, we have a lot of Colombian cousins. So I was raised with that. But that's why we picked Colombia versus Spain, for example, is my husband's a citizen. we were able to get our kids dual citizenship. So I am here and my residency is under the visa. So I could have applied through spouse, but I applied through my children because I have one less year to be able to apply for citizenship. So under my

MVSA as a parent, I have to be here for four years to apply for citizenship. If I would have done it through my husband, I would have had to wait five years. so it was just a viable path for us. And then in the future, with the Colombian citizenship, we can go to Spain, live there for two years, and gain Spanish citizenship if that's something we wanted to do. So in the planning our life out, that just seemed like the most reasonable thing to do.

Arielle Tucker (21:55.722)

Yeah, I mean that's a great option. I didn't realize that you could get v a visa status based on your kids, like based on your minor children. I haven't heard that before. I'm I'm curious, like I don't know how many countries do that, but that seems like a like r a really great option. Does that allow you to work? Are you able to work on that visa type?

Alyssa Bolaños (22:16.641)

Yes, I can work on that visa. And it's it's honestly it's a testament to how family friendly Columbia is because they don't want to split up families. They if if your family's here, the chances are you're gonna stay here, unless obviously you have like crazy criminal background or like something like crazy, but they really want families to stay together. And I always recommend to people if you have a spouse and a child and a child, do it through your child. It's just a little bit easier.

Arielle Tucker (22:41.931)

Mm-hmm.

Alyssa Bolaños (22:43.925)

I f you you said a second part to the question and I just blanked out, sorry.

Arielle Tucker (22:49.084)

I about work. You can w you can you work on the visa?

Alyssa Bolaños (22:51.563)

yes, so I can work, I can open a bank account, I can I can I can travel with my I get like a a foreign ID here. It's called a cedula. so I can travel with that, I can do everything basically with that cedula. I just can't vote.

Arielle Tucker (22:59.627)

Mm-hmm.

Arielle Tucker (23:07.081)

Okay. And what about sor we haven't talked about health insurance, but I feel like that's like another common like US thing. Like US health insurance is great if you have great insurance and terrible if you have terrible insurance. What is your health insurance situation look like now that you're in Colombia?

Alyssa Bolaños (23:22.475)

So there is a EPS is the countrywide. So there's a a type of universal health care here in Colombia, which is crazy, right? People give Columbia such a bad rap that it's underdeveloped and third world and yet we have universal health care. it's paid obviously by your taxes. If you're working, your employer pays it, and then you can pay into a private insurance, which is still

Less than it would be in the US. There's plans from like $80 to about $300 for a family of four like us.

Arielle Tucker (23:54.646)

Wow, that's like very reasonable. Have you I mean, you have two boys. Have you taken advantage of any of the health insurance?

Alyssa Bolaños (23:57.038)

Yeah.

luckily no, not on wood. I don't have wood here. But but there's a lot of medical tourism that happens here. So I have gone to the dentist, it was like twelve dollars. I've gotten my eyes checked and new glasses, and the whole thing with my prescription was about $200, which my prescription in the States was like $500. So it's it's a big difference. And you see a lot of US veterans coming here for that reason too.

Arielle Tucker (24:20.841)

Yeah.

Arielle Tucker (24:26.549)

Really? I would think that they would have the best insurance with the VA, but

Alyssa Bolaños (24:29.417)

No, well the VA takes forever to even get an appointment and and here in Colombia they're able to get the care that they need on the with a standard that they need or you know, it's a very high standard. Columbia has if you can pay for it, which is like anywhere if you could pay for it, you can get great medical care here.

Arielle Tucker (24:32.596)

Okay.

Arielle Tucker (24:46.729)

Okay. Wow. I have learned so much about Columbia. Thank you so much for kind of breaking this down for us. I for our last question today, I really just want to ask you, you know, for a family who's dreaming about moving abroad, whether that's to Columbia or somewhere else, and they're just feeling really stuck about what should I what's the next step or what's even the first step, what would you encourage them to do, Alyssa?

Alyssa Bolaños (25:09.709)

I mean, the first step is to have those honest conversations. I think people get into their heads of like this is impossible, especially with kids. But what people don't realize is you can have a higher quality of life, often for a lot less abroad. so I would just say, you know, to have those conversations with, you know, if you have a partner or spouse and with your kids because you don't want to blindsight the blindside them either.

But you know, having those conversations, getting a an idea of like your budget and and getting that breakdown in another country, I think can open up a lot of perspective to families to realize that this is something they could actually do.

Arielle Tucker (25:46.091)

Yeah, that's awesome. That's great advice. Alyssa, thank you so much for joining us today and sharing all your insights. We'll be sure to link your Instagram link as well so you people can follow along with your family and see the life that you guys are building in in Colombia.

Alyssa Bolaños (26:00.42)

Thank you so much, Ariel. I really appreciate you having me on here and to be able to share my story. And I love what you're doing too. Thank you so much.

Arielle Tucker (26:08.982)

Thank you so much.