Texas family dumps US for new, ‘safer’ life in Central American jungle: ‘My kids can finally go out alone’

They put new roots down South — over the US border. Makayla and Brian Oberlin sold their five-bedroom house and a majority of their belongings before ditching life in the U.S. in April 2025. Alongside their three children — aged 14, 12 and 10 — and almost a dozen suitcases, they established a new home in the jungles of Panama.

The 36-year-old mother of three and her husband, a former military man, moved from Amarillo, Texas, to the tropical Central American country.

Though life looks different, Oberlin says she and her husband love it, and their kids are enjoying exploring their new home, meeting new friends and learning Spanish in school.

“My kids can finally go out alone,” which she didn’t feel comfortable allowing back in Amarillo, Oberlin, a business owner told SWNS.

“Our lifestyle as a whole has changed; we have found an amazing sense of community here. We have Wednesday game night, and there is a kids’ club on a Thursday night, which is amazing,” she said.

“We are able to spend more quality time as a family,” she added.

Her husband worked in the military for 12 years, so the family was used to moving around, and spent time in Fort Bliss and Fort Hood before settling in Amarillo.

One of the other major differences between life in the Lone Star State and the family’s Panama pad is the cost.

“We were paying $1,900 a month for our house in the States, and here we are paying around $1,700 — to live in the jungle,” Oberlin said.

“Groceries are a lot cheaper here. We were spending around $300 to $400 a week before, and now we spend around $400 — which will last us a month,” she explained.

They even grow their own bananas now — and you don’t see that every day in Texas.

After vacationing in Costa Rica in 2022, the couple began to contemplate creating a permanent home somewhere abroad, citing both their attachment to adventure and the admittedly lower cost of living.

Two years later, they traveled in Panama and decided it checked more than a couple of boxes — easy access to residency and proximity to the U.S. were especially major.

“We had a week-long tour of the country, and at that point, we had spoken to our kids about what we wanted to do. During the tour, we visited so many different cities all over the country, we toured schools, went house hunting and shopped at grocery stores,” Oberlin said. “It was more than a vacation for us.”

Aside from Panama, the couple also considered relocating their family to Thailand, Malaysia, Ecuador and Costa Rica.

And they’re not the only family flocking to foreign countries from the U.S. A survey from earlier in 2025 revealed that 17% of Americans were interested in moving abroad at some point in the next five years.

More than any other generation, the study, conducted by Talker Research, found that 25% of Millennials — like the Oberlins — surveyed were drawn to the expat life.

While Panama didn’t make the top ten desirable destinations for Americans looking to leave the country, one of the Oberlin family’s other shortlisted sites did — Costa Rica ranked number eight, while Canada, Italy and England snagged the top three spots, respectively.