Extract from "A mi ciudad nativa" by Luis Carlos Lopez

Cartagena

A Mi Ciudad Nativa
"Ciudad triste, ayer reina de la mar"  J.M. Heredia
…

Fuiste heroica en los años coloniales,                                                                

cuando tus hijos, águilas caudales,                                                                                       

no eran una caterva de vencejos.          

Mas hoy, plena de rancio desaliño,

bien puedes inspirar ese cariño                                                                               

que uno les tiene a sus zapatos viejos...

To my Native City

"(My) Distressed City, yesterday the Queen of the Sea"  J.M. Heredia

…

You were heroic in the colonial years

When your children, esteemed eagles

Were not so easily vanquished.

But today, full of ancient disorder

You still inspire the love

That one has for (comfortable) old shoes…

By Luis Carlos Lopez, 
A native of Cartagena (Cartagena de Indias), Colombia, the poet says he loves his city as much as he loves his comfortable shoes that take him all over the world.  Lopez is honoured by a monument of old shoes cast in bronze in the old city of Cartagena. 

Cartegena defended itself so often from pirate attacks during the colonial era that Simón Bolívar dubbed it ‘La Heroica’ (the heroic city) upon independence in 1821

(Spanish to English translation is mine)

 I have seen "rancio desaliño" translated as "rancid disarray"
but "ancient disorder" seems to communicate the affection intended.