At home on Ometepe

Hola friends and family. We arrived at the Hacienda Mérida (our new home) around 2pm today (Nicaragua time is the same as the central time zone right now). I will try to write a longer update later, but for the moment, I just wanted to let you all know that everything has gone so smoothly and we made it here with no problems. The Hacienda is actually quite beautiful; it is on a little peninisula jutting out into the lake, and as I type, I am sitting amidst coconut trees looking at the water. They had a room ready for us when we got here; we even have our own bathroom!! I am going to be so spoiled. No out-house for me this time. I thinkt he shower is probably cold water only, though. Will investigate that later. We've been eating so well this whole trip too. As soon as we got here, they gave us fresh mango juice and home-made vegetable soup with rice and really good bread. Will have to remember that I'm not really on vacation, and I need to go out and look for the monkeys soon...

Rob has rigged up some sort of temporary internet connection through someone's cell phone. It works but is really slow. I have about a million pictures from the moment of our departure until now, but I will probably wait to post those until we have a faster connection. For now, I've got to go. Will post more when I get a chance.