Las Pozas, Xilitla

I visited this tWHS in January 2022 as a convenient stopover between the Sierra Gorda missions WHS and the Otumba/Zempoala components of the Padre Tembleque WHS.

For starters, the whole area surrounding Las Pozas is quite shabby and also prone for tourist traps. There are several activities and places claiming to be the right place to visit to appreciate Las Pozas, and makeshift parking personnel ready to earn a quick buck to keep your vehicle safe. If you insist to drive further on, you can park your car for free at your own risk, but having a drink at one of the cafes/bars should be enough instead of paying the same 50 pesos for such a parking tourist trap. It is quite a drive to get there and the locals know this so just keep this tip in mind instead of paying for a fake service.

The surreal gardens of Edward James are open everyday except on Tuesdays and entrance is currently only allowed with a guided tour taking 1.5 hours (125 pesos + 25 pesos for the guide). It's best to book and pay for your tickets online in advance and you're requested to exchange your booking with an actual ticket some 15 minutes before the scheduled time. When we visited, we were the only visitors requesting an English guide, so apart from having a private tour we were also lucky to have a really motivated guide who showed us photos of Edward James on his tablet …

A bit off trek but on the way from the Franciscan Missions towards El Tajin, and totally worth it. It is also really popular. I took more pictures here than ANY other place in Mexico but it also took effort to have nobody in the frame, especially with Mexican kids splashing in the water. If you want to get close to the El Waterfall you either take off your shoes, prepare to get wet or buy booties in the shops before you enter the gardens.

If you try to imagine this is an ancient ruin with unknown origin and you would think it's a mysterious place ranking among the Mayan ruins. Alas it is not. Somehow inspired by Dalí and you can imagine what it is like. Art overgrown by jungle. In another example, have you been to Siem Reap and how the "Tomb Raider" temple gets a lot of attention and is very photogenic? So then you should understand that every corner he is just asking for a picture.

Edward James created a very unique place and I believe this should be part of the world heritage. I think it also reaches beyond what you see here as the park is apparently 80 acres with a sign stopping you to explore the rest of the garden because there is no security. The park is in the forest and wild animals could probably mame you (leopards?).

Is the park actually complete to the artist's intention? I didn't …

Las Pozas at Xilitla is a bit of a surprise entry onto Mexico’s T List – A “Wilderness Sculpture Garden” in the form of the surreal “architectural ramblings” set in a sub-tropical Mexican rainforest and created during the mid 20th Century by a rich and eccentric English poet and art patron. It has been described somewhat grandiloquently as “one of the biggest and least known artistic monuments of the 20th century”, as “a spectacular marriage of nature and art.” and, more prosaically, simply as a “Folly”! So, love it or hate it, it seemed worth taking in as we passed by in 2008 when traveling between the Sierra Gorda Missions and El Tajin.

If you are thinking of visiting then it is important to read up beforehand on the history of the man who “created” it - Edward William Frank James (1907–1984). Without this background the whole place could seem even more meaningless than it might still seem if you have done the reading! There is plenty on the Web about him so I won’t fill this review with much detail – suffice to say that his personal contacts included Magritte, Dali, Brecht/Weill, Evelyn Waugh, Aldous Huxley, Balanchine and the Mitfords. He inherited great wealth from his Liverpool based American father, increased this by creating a valuable collection of early surrealist art and, between 1949 and his death, blew cUS $5 million of it on Las Pozas! It might also be of interest that, in 1959, James was involved in …

During my 2 days trip to Sierra Gorda de Queretaro, I've managed to take the 1,5 hours driving from Jalpan to Xilitla, where out of the village and apparently in the middle of nowhere, you'll find the entry to Las Pozas. The gardens are open every year and there is a small entry fee. The main "palace" is very close and visible from the unpaved dirty street you have to take in order to get to Las Pozas (it may become particularly hard to drive, after a rainy day (luckily it wasn't out case). The gardens and concrete structures are well integrated into a main surrealistic environment, many of the concrete structures are just "useless" and just for beauty, mostly representing flowers or bamboo. Particularly remarkable are the "stairs to nowhere", with no handrail and scary to climb (luckily the scariest steps where closed, in order to mantain the integrity of the structure). It took little more than an hour in order to visit Las Pozas, it wasnt crowded when we were there on a Monday morning. We could have stayed longer and seim in the pozas just down a spectacular waterfall, but we left the swimsuits in the car and the water was not as warm as in other places of the Sierra. All in all, a worthy detour if you plan to visit Sierra Gorda and have an overnight stay in Jalpan