First Night

Hello Everyone,
We are terribly sorry for the long wait between blogs. We have had a lot to do and digest.
First and foremost...we have a cell phone! The number is (505) 970-3789. Call us whenever you can!!
Here`s what I have been thinking about lately... please indulge me for a moment.
We moved into our new apartment yesterday. It is HUGE by our standards, but small compared to others we have seen! It has a lot of room for guests. We want to show you some pictures, but in a moment of insanity, we let Maia play with the expensive digital camera, unsupervised. Now it is broken...we will try and get it fixed today.
On with my thoughts. Thw apartment we rented comes with ``Maid Service``. Every rich Nicaraguna, as well as most of the foreigners, have employees, or as they are called in Spanish, empleadas. It makes me feel weird. Also, everyone warned us that we have to be careful about securing all of valuables at all times, because even the most trusted of people will steal from you if given the chance. Our doors have heavy steel frames that must be locked at all times as well., because apparently (and this has been corroborated by at least 5 different sources), people will just walk in off the street and take what they want.
All of this information, true or not, makes me sad. I am having a hard time falling in love with a place where I need to be on guard at all times. This is not in my nature. I like to trust people first, then get to know them a bit more as time goes on. Apparently, Nicaragua is not as bad as Costa Rica for stealing, but that is very little consolation. We have met some really nice people here, or so I think....maybe they are casing us for all of our stuff. See, paranoia has begun to set in. I don`t think that this is a healthy way to live. I am hoping that this will change in time. I hope that I will learn for myself that life is not as bleak as it has been painted.
On the other hand, we went to a lake in an old volcano crater yesterday. The water is full of minerals that are excellent for skin and hair. It was a perfect way to spend a Sunday afternoon!!! You had to drive down an incredibly steep hill to get there. We were afraid that Tink wasn`t going to make it back up again, but of course, she did. Good old Tink, she sure has been pulling through on this trip.
Today, we are checking out a school for Maia. It is a Waldorf school, for those of you who are familiar with Waldorf philosophy. We think that Maia will thrive there, because imagination is really encouraged. We hope that it works out, because Maia really needs some friends. Her birthday is coming up, and we want to invite some people to her birthday party.
The last thing I would like to leave you with, in the disjointed rambling I call a blog, is this, first night in our new apartment and we have some things to work on. First of all, the hot water tap leaks in the kitchen. No big deal, that can be fixed easily. Secondly, there seems to be a mosquito colony living in our garden. This can also be fixed with mosquito coils, etc. Also, no big deal. What is a big deal, are the ten cockraoches living in our first shower. They are nowhere else in the house so far, but we can`t put Maia in her bedroom, because of them. Maia had to sleep on our floor, on a makeshift bed last night. This was probably for the best because she was up quite a bit in the night, but that doesn`t change the fact that we aren`t using one whole room in this house. Even Adam was grossed out a little, when a cockroach ran over his foot.
Our friends the gekkos are hard at work, so lets give a few props to them for their help last night. I am sure that by our next blog, the roaches will be taken care of.
Love and nire love to all of you. Please write and call when you get a chance.