It's almost over now.

The time has come to wrap this baby up and shut it down. We keep getting asked 'what was the best this...' or 'where was the best that...' so, in the most arbitrary and subjective fashion, and with scant justification, here are the top lists. This is the best and worst stuff in the world...

Top countries
1. Argentina
2. Ecuador
3. Mexico

California would have been in with a shout if it had independence. Argentina has it all - and we didn't even make it to the glaciers, Iguazu, the pampas or the beaches. Ecuador is everything Peru claims to be. And Mexico is probably the most fascinating country we have been to.

Top beaches
1. Galapagos Islands
2. Park Tayrona, Columbia
3. Big Corn Island

Probably the toughest category, as we have seen probably close to a thousand beaches in a year. The Galapagos Islands are known for wildlife but the beaches are spectacular, and of course, not populated and unspoiled. The Abel Tasman national park in NZ South Island was also similar to Park Tayrona but lacked the Caribbean waters and 35 degree weather. Long Beach on Big Corn was just jaw dropping.

Top cats
1. The little black one at La Paz hostel, Lake Atitlan, Guatemala
2. The fluffy white one at the Plantation House, Salento, Columbia
3. The scruffy orphan at Elsa's, Little Corn Island, Nicaragua

The ginger from Wheeler's, the very silly fat grey one from New Zealand and the blind white one from Utila all deserve props.

Top disappointments
1. Machu Picchu, Peru
2. Franz Josef and Fox glaciers, New Zealand
3. Aukland

We believed the hype. Don't. The Experience Project in Seattle also deserves a mention for being a 15 million dollar plank with zero Jimi. Auckland was just bad. After so many other historic sites in Central America, Machu Picchu was over-priced and over-hyped. The glaciers, far from being 'the experience of a lifetime' looked like tiny Finnish ski slopes in Spring.

Top places to stay
1. Izhcayluma, Vilcabamba, Ecuador
2. Earth Lodge, near Antigua, Guatemala
3. La Paz, San Marcos, Lake Atitlan, Guatemala

Izhcayluma could arguably be the best hostel in the world. It does actually have the feel of a spa at backpacker prices, serves fantastic German food, has awesome views of the Valley of Longevity, and a very, very nice bar - where I am undisputed pool and table tennis champion. Ruby's Inn on Utila deserves mention for being the only place in the world where they clean the shower curtains - hostel owners take note! Earth Lodge is an avocado farm overlooking active volcanos, and La Paz has a yoga school. It says here.

Top walks
1. Laguna 69, Hauraz, peru
2. Colca Canyon, Peru
3. Yosemite, California, USA

On one hand we 'diss' Peru but then we say it is the best place in the world to walk. Yes, we are two-faced-tourists. We didn't do any serious trekking involving the need for specialised equipment, and we always got local instructions to avoid taking a guide. Laguna 69 took us up to 4800m and planted us under several 6000m Andean peaks. Colca Canyon is the 2nd deepest in the world (the deepest is just around the corner). You get perspective-changing views but also time to enjoy everyday mountain village life. Just getting out of the car at Yosemite is mind-blowing. Special mention for the Grand Canyon (though we didn't walk long enough really), and Key Summit in New Zealand on the way to Milford.

Top meals
1. Cerviche, Santiago, Chile
2. Las Tinajas, Cordoba, Argentina
3. 100% Natural, Acapulco, Mexico // Mole, Oaxaca, Mexico

We reckon Mexico has the best food in the world. And none of it is covered in yellow slime. Cerviche is fish cooked in lime. On our last night in South America we had a huge amount of salmon, barracuda and king prawns all cooked in lime and washed down with the local white. Where - we can't remember! Tinajas in Cordoba is reckoned to be the largest all-you-can-eat restaurant in the world. With 1200 covers there is a bit of a cruise ship vibe but my god, it is awesome. Our diverse tastes (meat vs no meat) made us split the number 3 spot. 100% natural was great food... for rabbits (no... I had a bizzo nut burger) and the Oaxacan delicacies made me purr.

Top man made sights
1. Easter Island
2. Tikal
3. Las Vegas

Surprised...? Well, we thought long and hard about this. We thought Tikal bossed all the other ancient sites we saw (but we didn't see Angkor in the end). Easter Island (and, in particular Orongo) is no.1 for cosmicity. Vegas is just hilarious.

Top islands
1. Little Corn Island. Nicaragua
2. Caye Caulker, Belize
3. Easter Island, Chile

Props for Puerto Rico itself, its sibling; Vieques, South Island New Zealand, and Koh Jum in Thailand. These three have something extra special. Even in driving rain for one week, Little Corn was paradise. Caye Caulker is sand-bar Caribbean heaven and Easter Island is out-of-this-world. Perhaps all of these are also unspoilt by mass tourism.

Top stuff we missed
1. Angel Falls, Venezuela
2. Iguazu Falls, Argentina/Brazil
3. Glaciers National Park, Patagonia, Argentina

Big-ups to those who keep asking 'didn't you go to Africa?'. Angkor Wat, Cambodia, and the Similan and Surin Islands in Thailand could also be here. But, having gone to Venezuela, we were gutted that the currency situation got in the way of Angel Falls (and any thoughts of seeing table-top mountains). All reports suggest Iguazu may be the most spectacular falls in the world but we chose penguins, and southern Patagonia was just too far in the short time we had given ourselves in Argentina. Next time though...

Top natural wonders
1. Grand Canyon, Arizona, USA
2. Salar De Uyuni, Bolivia
3. Milford Sound, New Zealand

Crickey... how does Yosemite not make this list... or the Galapagos. Really these five places are in a different class. They are all incredible. Even ignoring the fauna on the Galapagos, it is still incredible. Yes, these are (the) five places you should see in your lifetime. Just make sure you see Milford in Spring (Oct/Nov) when the waterfalls are on. Also see the Grand Canyon in Spring (April/May) and take a long hike. Same for Yosemite; the season starts April/May when the waterfalls are popping.

Top places to go back to
1. Whistler
2. Galapagos
3. Grand Canyon

This is the answer to the question; 'if you had to go somewhere tomorrow...?' Having Whistler there tells that we really haven't been to enough big ski resorts. One reason to go back is to do the heli-skiing. Also I was favouring my shoulder at the time and could've gone more extreme! Argentina and Mexico are probably the two countries to go back to. Galapagos again outside of September with warmer water, some extra islands and more and more snorkeling.

Top surprises
1. Puerto Rico
2. Columbia
3. California

PR is rockin'. World-class beaches. World class music and nightlife. An America city on a Caribbean island. It is something special - and we had the best hospitality there. Columbia was fresh and felt a little pioneering as tourism is in its infancy there. California was a big surprise to Miss Deli in particular - the human and natural diversity is unparalleled.

Worst places to stay
1. Grand Trunk Hostel, Vancouver, Canada
2. Pitstop, Medellin, Columbia
3. Refugio, Antigua, Guatemala

Avoid these places like the plague. Pitstop was the saddest spectacle of drug-tourism - the kind of thing that it is a big potential banana skin for Columbia as it receives more visitors. An honourary mention must go to Pangea Hostel in San Jose, Costa Rica - this place was a multi-storey prison, packed with teenagers wearing wrist bands. If this is the global village then we should put a torch to it now.

Top homes away from home
1. Morelos, San Blas, Mexico
2. Sun Smile, Koh Jum, Thailand
3. Fiddy, Wicked Campers, New Zealand

These were the places where we really felt at home. If we had stayed longer then Sunset on Koh Chang, and Ruby's on Utila, then they would be contenders too. Morelos had a stork, a kitchen, free water refills, a short walk to the plaza and market, and San Blas was very special. Sun Smile was our home for 41 nights - we know every shade of the sunset and the outline of every palm. '750 Rebels', the Toyota Camina, looked after us for a month, and assisted us greatly in the consumption of wine, cheese and kniffel.

Top wildlife encounters
1. Galapagos Islands
2. Peninsula Valdez, Patagonia, Argentina
3. Rurrenabaque, Bolivia

The bio-luminescent bay on Vieques, Puerto Rico gets a commendation but these were the big three. Snorkeling with sea lions, sharks, rays turtles and millions of fish - all the time - and wandering through crowds of boobies, sea lions and lizards. Sea lion, sea lion, sea lion... Galapagos is one of the world's true natural wonders. Peninsula Valdez is where you can sea killer whales eating seals in the waves. We got up close with whales and sea lions and saw hundreds and thousands of penguins nearby at Punta Tombo. Rurre boasts giant anacondas, crocs, piranhas, pink dolphins and thousands of giant rats, and some of the worst guides in the world.

The blogger.com engine doesn't make it easy for me to add and caption pictures in with this but I will come up with something... probably. Until then we can infer that the FunkiDeli.fi DEliTOUR (with promotional consideration from Dick Bliss Park and Wanka Tours, Mendoza) is over. I am off to England for a week. We are back at home in our flat. We are looking for work and looking for our friends... Thanks for tuning in.