So we are now back in Paramaribo. On Friday we took a jaunt around the centre of the city, as we hadn't really seen it before. We saw Fort Zeelandia (Top photo) and Independence Square, with its very Dutch looking buildings. There was lots of historical stuff (I was excited as Simon Reeve was here).

We then went to ReadyMex to get the obligatory fridge magnets and stickers before returning to our house.

Saturday is our last day here. Patricia is flying back to the UK later and we fly to Belem in Brazil, to start the schlep down to Ushuaia, early on Sunday morning (3:20 am early). The next chapter begins!

And an afternoon on the beach. That was our day on Tuesday. We headed to Cacao, which is an area settled by people from Laos. As this is one of the things you must do in French Guiana, we did it. It was a town that had some people whose ancestors settled there a while ago (and it had an interesting church). We had a nice lunch there.

We have hired a car, which Isabella named Strawberry, and have been exploring French Guiana.

On Monday, after I picked up Strawberry, we headed about an hour west up the coast to Kourou, which has the site of the European Space Centre just outside of the town. In good-old South America style the museum was closed, even though the website said it was open. I thought it was pretty exciting and there a massive rocket there!

After this we headed into Kourou and had lunch. Simon Reeve was right, it is not a very pretty town. However, from the bay we can see the islands that Papillon was imprisoned on, which again I found exciting (see picture below - the one on the left is Devil's Island).

On Tuesday, after a long but not complicated journey, we arrived in France. French Guiana is literally France! So technically it is not a new country, but I am claiming it as one anyway.

French Guiana is also the home of the European Space Agency, so technically it is in Europe, but it isn't really as this is blatantly South America: it's political versus geographical!

We are now in Cayenne, which is the biggest city in French Guiana. It is very different to Guyana and Suriname; more civilised and European (because it is technically Europe). It has obviously had a lot more investment in infrastructure and thought taken in how things have been done here. The lack of corruption at government level is obvious too.

As is expected we had to cross water to get into France on Tuesday. It was very exciting and way easier than crossing from Guyana to Suriname. Our driver Vikash dropped us at Suriname's border control where we got stamped out. Then we boarded Noel's small boat that took us across the Maroni river to France (French Guiana). We were then stamped into France without any issues or batting of an eyelid. Then we met Llyod who drove us to Cayenne. We left Domburg at 10am and arrived in Cayenne at 5:30pm.

The pictures are all of our small boat.

We had a very low key Christmas Day this year. The kids opened their presents that were left under the Christmas tree. We spoke to family and settled into a rainy day in Domburg. In the afternoon the weather cheered up and we went for a dip in the pool and a soak in the hot tub.

In the evening we went out for a Christmas meal and the kids played in the park near the restaurant.

Thank you to everyone who sent us Christmas messages!!

We arrived at our Christmas location on Wednesday after an interesting journey from Nickerie. The landscape is so flat here, so we got to see some really big skies. Suriname doesn't feel like South America, it has more of a South-East Asian feel to it; this is also helped by the abundance of paddy fields surrounding Nickerie.

We are currently staying at the Surinat Luxury Resort in Domburg which is located south of Paramaribo. It is on the river and there is a nice bit of jungle at the bottom of the garden where we have been lucky enough to do some excellent animal spotting. So far we have seen sloths, toucans and monkeys.

Isabella is loving the three dogs that live here and regularly goes off to play with them.

On Tuesday we went out to Bigi Pan. This is basically a big lagoon which is fed by a multitude of canals to help to drain the land. Bigi Pan is a wildlife haven, especially for birds. We saw lots of different birds including osprey, vultures, heron, anis and flamingos.

We left the river and had to drag the boat over a dyke into a canal and then we travelled down the canal until we reached Bigi Pan. There were some buildings built on stilts on Bigi Pan. Chris, the cook, showed us that the water is only about 90cm deep, which was surprising.

The title is probably longer than the list of sights of Nieuw Nickerie. On Monday morning we took a stroll around the town. It is a very small and laid back place and has the feel of another world. Like Georgetown, you don't feel as if you are in South America. Nickerie is predominantly made up of East Indian, Chinese, West Indian and Javanese peoples. The official language of Suriname is Dutch and like the Netherlands it is very flat here, with lots of dykes. Anyway we had a very pleasant look around.

We had a very long day travelling to Suriname on Sunday. It started with our pick-up at around 3:30am. We then travelled to Moleson Creek where we had to be stamped out of Guyana before proceeding by ferry across the Corentijn River to South Drain to be stamped into Suriname. It took ages and there were so many parts to the process (not to mention forms to fill in). We then had to transfer to another bus to be dropped in our current abode in Nieuw Nickerie.

On Friday we went to the national park, which is a bit like Rothamsted Park, but with a broken play park, wonky rugby posts, dilapidated tennis courts and lots and lots of water and swampy ground (sounds great doesn't it). However, we bumped into Chef Dev, a Canadian celebrity chef, who is filming for his show in Guyana to promote and showcase the various culinary delights of the country. He is Guyanese-Canadian and feels it is his mission to tell the world about Guyanese cuisine. Anyway, his camera man Westley told us about some ponds where we could see manatees, so we went, we fed and we marvelled at them. They are a remarkable animal indeed! Isabella loved feeding and stroking the manatees.

Chef Dev organised for a local restaurant to deliver us some Guyanese food for our last night in Georgetown. It was a really generous thing for him to do and the food was delicious.

We have been in Georgetown for four days now. On Tuesday we went into town and had a mooch about. I have visited various supermarkets to buy water and bread. We had an unsuccessful visit to the zoo on Wednesday, it was closed due to flooding (although I did convince the security guard to let us pop in and see the birds) and on Thursday we spent the morning in a shopping mall; mostly to use their air conditioning. I have found that shopping malls are also a great way of getting a better understanding of a country and its people.

I know it is very cold back in England currently, but it is very hot and humid here - not Chrstmassy at all!

We finally arrived in Guyana on Monday morning after an eventful journey. Firstly we met Charlotte's mum, Patricia, in Panama City airport on Sunday evening. Secondly, after two aborted attempts to land due to fog, we had an unexpected visit to Porto Spain in Trinidad where we had to refuel and wait for the fog to clear. We finally reached our destination of Georgetown about three hours later than we were supposed to. The kids were great and slept for most of the journey, we on the other hand are really looking forward to going to bed tonight.

Patrick, the man our Airbnb host sent to let us in, also had a long night as he expected us at 3ish and we didn't arrive until 9ish; poor bloke.

We spent the rest of Monday settling in to our Airbnb and venturing out to gather supplies; thanks to Patrick who took us to the local supermarket - what a star.