In europe u can buy claro phone cards under the name "mucho".
U then charge up ure pre-paid mobile phone, fixed land line or public phone, and it costs near to nothing to phone home to the dr. (Equivalent of 500 pesos gives u over 1h30 communication time ). That would be my choice for phoning home.
As for a phone to use in europe to europe. Dont do roaming, even between european countries it is very expensive. ( a new law was supposedly on its way, but i dont know what happened to that ).
There is a multitude of pre paid deals, for example local rates between france/switzerland/germany.
It is a good option if u have a multiple SIM card reader on your phone. 2 SIM cards should get u prepaid deals between 4+ countries.