Las Pozas

Las Pozas ("the Pools") is a surrealistic group of structures created by Edward James, more than 2,000 feet (610 m) above sea level, in a subtropical rainforest in the Sierra Gorda mountains of Mexico.

[2] In Hollywood in 1941, his lifetime friend and cousin, Magic Realist painter Bridget Bate Tichenor, encouraged him to search for a surreal location in Mexico to express his diverse esoteric interests.

James was "Uncle Edward" to the children and frequently stayed with them in a house Plutarco had built, a mock-Gothic cement castle, now a hotel – La Posada El Castillo.

[4] There were also plantings and beds full of tropical plants, including orchids — there were, apparently, 29,000 at Las Pozas at one time[5] — and a variety of small homes, niches, and pens that held exotic birds and wild animals from the world over—James owned many exotic animals and once even took his pet boa constrictors to the Hotel Francis in Mexico City.

The many trails throughout the garden site are composed of steps, ramps, bridges and narrow, winding walkways that traverse the valley walls.

[9] He went to great lengths to achieve his desired surrealistic style in creating his sculptures and at one point he also conducted electricity from the nearby town Xilitla to light up the forest.

[10] Originally, Edward James used his stay in San Luis Potosi, Mexico as a ground to grow orchids and create his own private zoo.

[11] For this reason, many of the original structures found in Las Pozas at one point were meant to house his pets: deer, flamingos, ducks, boa constrictors, etc.

[8] In the summer of 2007, the Fundación Pedro y Elena Hernández, the company Cemex, and the government of San Luis Potosí paid about $2.2 million for Las Pozas and created Fondo Xilitla, a foundation that oversees the preservation and restoration of the site.