"Look, we move among a bunch of ' pseudo-realists ' who.... produce nothing but junk. So they try to act like mad men to justify themselves. On the other hand, you who are real labor to act sane....." Salvador Dali to Edward James
XILITLA :
Deep within the tropical Huasteca jungle, surrounded by waterfalls, springs and natural aquamarine pools, a surrealist's dream greets the viewer.
Seventy years ago, Sir Edward James, the disenchanted heir of British nobility, was on a road trip through rural Mexico when he heard about a place where orchids grew wild in the forest. He took a road trip through the backcountry of these lush highlands and fell in love with them.
Las Pozas, as he named this moss-covered concrete fantasy rising from the jungle, became his life's work, and changed the character of this remote corner of Mexico's Sierra Madre forever. Xilitla (pronounced He-LEET-la) would have likely continued as a tiny, picturesque but unremarkable mountain village like any of the others in these parts had it not been for the presence of James, the eccentric Englishman who took up residence here in the 1940s and created a surrealist's dream in the botanical garden of Las Pozas. His creation and the flamboyant lifestyle he lived here, drawing international attention and visits from the likes of Salvador Dali, have left an indelible mark on this town, which still draws visitors from around the world.
It took 35 years to construct, with 150 workmen at its height, filling the concrete molds and erecting the wild constructions that bloomed in James' fecund imagination throughout the 80-acre garden.
AND I WAS VERY HAPPY TO BE HERE....
XX
EGR
