Cerro Alegre, Valparaíso, Chile 2026
Super special project here — huge moment for teaching, learning, and meeting amazing people in life!
During my Winter 2026 trip to Valparaíso, Chile, I met a woman, Clau, while painting a mural piece in her neighborhood outside of a Spanish school where I had taken a language course. She was really excited to see me using spray paint, and said that her 13-year-old daughter Aurora was super into the world of graffiti, stickers, and spray paint, and would love to do a lesson. So we arranged to meet up the next week and make it happen.
(This was all in Spanish. I’ve spent years learning the language .. I’m still pretty rough around the edges but I can get by!)
As we planned, I met Aurora and her parents at the cat mural (which happened to be right at the bottom of a staircase leading to their house) the next week. I had no idea that Aurora and I would be painting this huge retaining wall right below her family’s home! It turned out to be the perfect spot to teach the ins and outs of the spray cans, and to learn by painting an actual piece together.
Auri was such a great student — she wasn’t afraid to ask me questions or for tips, and she was super confident and outgoing. A true star.
For this giant wall we went with the theme ‘La Joya Del Pacifíco’ — a nickname for the city of Valparaíso, and also a name of a popular local folk song which tells a tale of a sailor passing through the city’s many cerros (hills) and iconic meeting places.
Auri had some fun personal insight to lend for each panel we painted; for instance, sliding down a resbalín (slide) in Cerro Concepción, she once broke a nail:
This section was inspired by the completos (crazy loaded hot dogs) of Playa Ancha, the famous Piano Staircase of Calle Beethoven, the iconic ascensores seen throughout the city, and a line from the song about Valpo being ‘a rainbow of various colors’ :
The best part of this experience was just hanging out with Auri and her family. Her parents Ricardo and Clau have a studio space where they make jewelry, paintings. prints and other art, which they sell below in the busy Paseo Dimelow, a major pedestrian throughway in Cerro Alegre. We met up at their space and worked on projects together for a couple weeks during my stay in the city!
I couldn’t have dreamed of a better chance to connect with amazing people and become fully immersed in the creative culture of the Valparaíso, La Joya del Pacifíco. So grateful that the stars aligned and I met Auri, Clau, Ricardo, Celeste, and their crew of friends and fellow creators. Gracias vecinos*familia !!
