Some places call to you, fill a place in your soul, and make you feel like you’ve come home; sometimes even if it’s the first time you’ve been there. I’ve had several of those experiences over the years; Vernazza, Italy on the Cinque Terre, Istanbul, Turkey, and Chiang Mai, Thailand, but the one place we’ve been to more than anywhere else in the world, and the place we keep finding ourselves going  back to, is Puerto Vallarta, Mexico.

In the next couple of weeks we’ll be heading  back again, sort of a last Delameter family trip. With Jim’s parents getting a bit older, we wanted to take advantage of a final trip down as a family. That trip will mark the 14th trip for myself and the 12th trip for Jim, pretty amazing when you consider all the places we’ve been and all that are still on our bucket list. I love Mexico, ALL of Mexico. I love the culture, the people, the architecture, the colors, the food, and hey, who am I kidding… the tequila! But somehow, Puerto Vallarta always draws us back to her shores.

Our very first trip there was in 1994, shortly after I started working for Mexico Unlimited, Inc.,a local wholesaler for trips to Mexico. It was Jim & I, our friend (and now brother in law) Ken, his brother Mark, and a friend, also named Mark. It was a trip with a steep learning curve. Someone had advised Ken that they’d only take dollar bills in Mexico and so he showed up at the airport, late as usual, and carrying several hundred dollars in one dollar bills. All of which he promptly lost when he left them in a cab upon arrival in Puerto Vallarta, never to be recovered. We got on a random bus heading north from downtown and not exactly sure where it was headed. Turns out it wasn’t headed much of anywhere as we reached the end of the route and all on board, including the driver, got off. Not to fear, a taco stand was located at the stop and after several tacos and a coke, a new driver appeared and we headed back into town.

We were young and poor and inexperienced and it was one of the best trips ever. Eating almost exclusively out of taco stands, paying some young kids to take us on the winding route up to the top of the hill overlooking all of the city and bay, spending hours on the beach and in the water. It was a trip that set a precedent for our brand of travel, do some research but then surrender ourselves to a place, taking each experience as it comes.

Over the years we’ve been back so many times, with family, with friends, for numerous anniversaries. My work at Mexico Unlimited provided the outlet for many of these trips, with free tickets and hotel stays offered by our providers, heading off on yet another trip to Vallarta was nothing out of the ordinary. In fact, one September I was there without Jim, leading a familiarization trip for a group of travel agents, and as we entered one of the clubs downtown the bouncer spotted me and said “oh, back in town again?”. I had to laugh, thinking, okay…perhaps it’s time to head to a new spot.

And yet, we keep going back. Granted, there are many, many places all over the world with better beaches and water. There are quainter, smaller places, with less tourism and bustle. So what is it that keeps us returning to this place? The town itself, hell, really it’s become a city at this point, has a lot going for it. A short flight from home, warm breezes and lovely palm trees. With a surplus of restaurant, shopping, and activities it’s easy to do as much or as little as you like. There are small, family owned hotels and mega resorts. But, a lot of places have all this.

I think the reason we keep coming back is because parts of town, the part we stay in and spend most of our time in, have remained remarkably unchanged in the years we’ve been going. Yes, the marina, Nuevo Vallarta, and environs north have changed tremendously. Huge hotels, all-inclusive resorts, and Walmart have, sadly, forever changed the landscape. But Old Town is still Old Town, even after all these years. Many of the same modest hotels still operate. Some taco stands, the original “food carts”, have been on the same street corner, dishing up the same great street fare. Favorite old restaurants still exist. We know we’ll end up, at some point in our stay, sinking our toes in the sand while watching the fisherman work their nets over breakfast at La Palapa. We know there will be pasta night at La Piazzetta. Breakfast most days will be at the corner bagel and smoothie shop across from Los Arcos Suites. And, we know we’ll be eating our favorite creamed corn from the little ladies along the malecon.

We’ve done all the activities over the years, taken the tours, done the tourist stuff. But we come here for peace. I LOVE travel. I love the planning. I love the research. I love reading up on a new place and wondering what we’ll see or do. But I think the reason I keep coming back to Vallarta is because it is one place I don’t have to do any of that. It is still a tropical, gorgeous, warm beach vacation in the middle of a dreary Oregon winter. But, it’s also familiar. It’s a place we can fully relax at. It’s a place we bring friends who are first timers to Mexico to. It’s a place we escape to.

It’s the place we went right after my mom died. It had been two years of illness and stress and emotion and we needed to get away. Driving into town, surrounded by the warm, humid air, I felt myself breathing deeper than I had in a long time. Like a cartoon character, I felt as if, anyone watching me could LITERALLY see the stress meter slowly heading down from my head, through my body, and out my toes and by the time we reached our hotel a new sense of contentment was already coursing through my blood. The sadness did not disappear, but it took a back seat to new beginnings and moving on.

Puerto Vallarta has been the scene of many of our anniversary trips. The latest being our 20th in 2010. 20 years! It seemed like a milestone and  we felt as though we should go somewhere new and exciting. We talked about Jamaica, we talked about Isla Margarita, we talked about every beach in the world. The planning became complicated, the prices expensive, the sense of excitement being taken over by frustration. In the end, we decided to keep it simple. Why not go back to the place we hadn’t been in several years, the place we love, the place where NO planning is involved and we can just be. Once again, Puerto Vallarta became the destination of choice and it was a lovely trip filled with relaxation, romance and renewal of spirit. And… where I first brought up the idea of driving to South America with Jim which spawned the NEXT BIG ADVENTURE.

This next trip there will be five of us; ourselves, Jim’ parents, and his sister Wendy. Ken, now Wendy’s husband, was supposed to join us but he’ll, regrettably, be leaving for his latest deployment to Afghanistan that day instead. With a group, the planning is always more complicated. For all of us who love nothing more than to lie on a beach with a magazine and a boat drink, there is Gail, My mother in law who, at 76 has more energy than the rest of us put together and is a shopper extraordinaire! And so, our beach time will be intermingled with more browsing. We are all participating in a cooking class at Essence of Cuisine, put on by Dolores, a Seattle ex-pat who lives in a lovely condo in Old Town not far from our hotel. We’re trying out a different hotel this time, the Emperador Vallarta Shores, still located in the same old neighborhood we like to stay.

What will our upcoming trip bring? As with any travel, who knows for sure. We do know it will be our first time in Puerto Vallarta in over a dozen years with the family. We know we’ll have a great time. We know we’ll see familiar faces while meeting new ones. And, as always with Puerto Vallarta, we will be back again.