Editor Note: Jessica Marati will be traveling the globe over the next several months and plans to send us dispatches about the local artisans, trends and amazing finds she uncovers during her stay. This is a first in a series of posts about her observations during a recent trip to Chile.

“Valparaiso / what a silly thing you are,” poet Pablo Neruda extolled in his Ode to Valparaiso. “How crazy / a crazy port / what a head with hills / disheveled / you don’t finish combing your hair / you never have time to get dressed.”

Neruda had a deep fascination with Valpo, as locals call it, and it’s not difficult to see why. It’s a little rough around the corners, sure. It’s messy and inconvenient. Some would even call it dirty. But hidden under the trash, camouflaged behind the graffiti, is a city full of vitality and charm.

On the advice of a friend, I decided to make Valpo a stop on my three-week tour of Argentina and Chile. She said I’d love it, and she was right.

Years after Neruda lived and worked there, Valparaiso continues to be Chile’s epicenter of creativity. Its hills, particularly Cerro Alegre and Cerro Concepcion, are filled with narrow winding roads and ramshackle homes painted in bright primary colors. Fantastic restaurants and quirky boutiques dot the city. I spent early mornings with organic breakfasts at El Desayunador (Almirante Montt 399) and late nights with the old-world tango band at Cinzano (Anibal Pinto 1882). I poked through funky handmade skirts from young designer Tamara Ramos at (Almirante Montt 197) and admired the jewelry, especially the lapis lazuli pieces, at Viña Crea (Concepcion 194), a cooperative of local artists.

Like so many before me, I left inspired.

For more of Jessica’s blogs on Chile, click here and here.