Las Pozas

When I arrived at Las Pozas, three boys greeted me and
asked me if I wanted them to watch The Rover. When I finally caught
onto what they were getting at, I agreed to the deal thinking it
couldn’t hurt. It cost 30 pesos to get into Las Pozas and it is
worth every peso. It is a maze of stone, concrete and rebar that
climbs up into the jungle and dances among waterfalls. The place is
completely bizarre and utterly surreal in the very best definition
of each word. The stone steps take you up, over and down; they lead
you over bridges, into pagodas and through a myriad of doorways,
all with the jungle encroaching and reclaiming. It truly is
amazing. All of this was funded by the imagination and bank account
of Edward James, a patron of the arts and the rumored illegitimate
grandson of King Edward VII. My favorite quote I could find was
from Salvadore Dali who said to James: “Look, we move among a bunch
of pseudo-realists, who… produce nothing but junk. So, they try
to act like madmen to justify themselves. On the other hand, you
who are real labor to act sane.” When Edward James came to Xilitla
after WWII, it seems he fell in love with the area. I can
understand why: I just spent ten minutes watching two flocks of
parrots circle and squawk at each other. When I returned to The
Rover, the three boys had turned into four. I gave the ring leader
30 pesos to divide as he saw fit, saying it was the same as Las
Pozas. “Es bueno?” “Si. Es bueno.”