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Visit Edward James’ Surrealist Gardens

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Explore Edward James'  mind-blowing surrealist sculpture park, swaddled in Mexican rainforest.

Close to the little central Mexican town of Xilitla is Las Pozas, an extraordinary sculpture park created by eccentric artist Edward James.  This colourful English aristocrat arrived here in 1945 and was immediately besotted by the exotic plants and birds of the surrounding rainforest.

Thus inspired, he began crafting a labyrinthine exhibition of surreal concrete and brick buildings, tunnels, bridges, pavilions, sculptures and spiral stairways leading nowhere, enveloped by lush green foliage. Some of his creations reflect classical style with Greco-Roman columns, some have loopy designs resembling candelabras, while others are inspired by the surrounding vegetation and fauna itself. Absorbed by the greedy forest, bits of wrought iron are rusty; other sculptures are mantled in moss. Salvador Dali reputedly said of him ‘Edward James is crazier than all the surrealists put together. They pretend, but he is the real thing.’

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    Maggie Wilson - Travel Expert

    Maggie visited Latin America on her first backpacking trip when she was 19. Since then, she has taken every opportunity to travel, and has managed to explore a lot of the region in subsequent trips.

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    Juliet Ellwood - Travel Expert

    After graduating with a degree in Anthropology and History and having been fascinated by Latin America since childhood by the book featuring photos of Nazca, Juliet first visited the region in 2003. Since then, Juliet has visited the majority of countries in Latin America but has particularly extensive experience with Peru, a country she loves for many reasons but not least, its incredible archaeological richness and delicious food!

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    Heloise Buxton - Travel Expert

    Heloise started her Latin American journey as an exchange student in Santiago, Chile. With extended summer holidays this was the perfect opportunity to backpack through Bolivia, Peru, Argentina and Brazil.

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