Mexican Jungle Garden

What's a Trippy?

It's a short visual trip to places of architectural or design importance.

Where are we going?

To Las Pozas ("The Pools"), a surrealist garden paradise created by Edward James (1907-1984) in the jungle near Xilitla, Mexico.

What's to see?

Xilitla is a small mountain village far north of Mexico City, set in a semi-tropical jungle filled with wild orchids. James, godson of the Prince of Wales, found this remote spot with a friend in 1944 and set up a home here.

The garden has 36 surrealist cement sculptures (James was a major patron of the surrealist arts; one example: he and Salvador Dali designed the famous vermilion sofa in the shape of Mae West's lips).

Some of the sculptures are painted and extremely tall, all arranged on a steep mountain in 80 acres of jungle. There are small houses, winding paths, gates, gardens and other visual treats that blend in with the jungle.

Las Pozas Video Tour