I moved my family from Texas to Colombia. It cut down our expenses by two-thirds, and life feels richer.

While the US is often defined by its individualism, Jamali enjoys Colombia's friendly, communal culture.

"I saw that level of care before I moved here, and that was one of the reasons I wanted to be here," she said. In Bogotá, she added, people seem to look out for one another, and children are treated with care and respect, not like nuisances.

"In Austin, no one would really acknowledge each other," she said. "The kids would play with their parents. Here, kids play with other kids, and parents are vigilant around other kids. At the park, I feel like there are multiple eyes on my kid and me, in the best way, because we're all community."

Jamali said one of the biggest benefits of moving to Bogotá has been the childcare her daughter receives.

Her daughter, who is nearly 3 years old, attends a preschool that provides a structured early-learning curriculum, hands-on care, and three nutritionist-approved meals a day that are prepared by a chef. Jamali said it costs the family about $400 a month — roughly a third of what she and her husband paid for childcare in Austin.

"They're focusing on her development," she said. "Where I had her before, it was more like, 'let's put your kid on a playground all day,' and do a quick little lesson in the morning. But here, they tell us word for word, 'We're working on this activity to develop this skill.' We're able to track how she's building different skills."

Jamali also said she's noticed a difference in how her daughter is treated by teachers.

"School kind of feels like family," she said. "The teachers bring their humanness and empathy into their roles. I've just noticed the quality is so different."

Jamali said the family is still adjusting to cultural differences, like how the country largely shuts down for holidays. She said it can make juggling work and childcare difficult.

"They take holidays really seriously here, and in January, almost all the daycares were closed," she said. "Since my husband and I both work for US-based clients, that was really hard to figure out childcare."

"We had to give ourselves grace," she added. "We weren't going to have the same capacity for work. But that's also the beauty of coming here — we came for a different kind of lifestyle. This is just one of the unexpected things we're adapting to."

For Jamali, a major upside of the move to Bogotá has been financial. She said the family's monthly living expenses have dropped from about $7,000 in Austin to roughly $2,000 in Bogotá.

Their biggest savings have been on housing. They still own a 1,800-square-foot, four-bedroom home in Austin that has a mortgage of around $2,000, which they're continuing to rent out as a mid-term rental on Airbnb and Vrbo. But in Bogotá, they live rent-free in a 900-square-foot apartment that her in-laws invested in.

"We've been able to save more, and our cost of living is just much lower," Jamali said. "We don't stress as much about having a good month or a bad month financially. We're not trying to keep up with the rising costs we dealt with in the US."

With a lower cost of living, she and her husband have been able to work less, giving the family more time together.

"We're a lot more active," she said. "And because we're saving more, the pressure we put on ourselves has gone down, the quality of life is better, and we're having better experiences."

Moving to Bogotá has brought Jamali's family closer together. Her in-laws are just a short walk away, which means regular visits and extra childcare help when they need it.

With her in-laws living in the mountains, Jamali and her husband also have a place to go when they want to unplug, and they'll sometimes spend up to a week at their home. Being outside and spending time in nature — a contrast to Austin's concrete sprawl — has helped her feel more at ease and more creative.

"With the support from my in-laws and the safety I feel here, I've been thriving in Bogotá," she said. "It's helped my mental health and my life in so many ways."