LAS POZAS, or “the pools”, was designed by Edward James, patron, collector and a practicing artist/poet in the surrealist movement. Over twenty-five years in the making, LAS POZAS was created in a river gorge just outside of the small town of Xilitla, three hours west of Tampico in the foothills of the Sierra Madre Mountains. Introduced to this site by his collaborator Plutarco Gastelum, James developed his garden in this rainforest niche climate because of a passion for orchids, which were abundant throughout the region. After trying unsuccessfully to cultivate orchids, he began building huge plant-like structures with concrete and rebar.

This series of garden follies would eventually span over forty acres and encompass a large natural waterfall with cascading pools as a focal point of the site. The visitor to this fantasy garden is treated not only to plantings and beds full of tropical plants, but to a variety of small casas (homes), niches, and pens that once held exotic birds and wild animals from the world over. Massive sculptures up to four stories tall punctuate the site. The many trails throughout the garden site are composed of steps, ramps, bridges and narrow, winding walkways that traverse the valley walls. At times the visitor is treated to breath-taking views of the site and the falls, only to be moments later suspended in seclusion, losing all sense of time & place, enveloped by the larger-than-life scale of the rain forest. It is not unusual to find yourself exploring for hours in LAS POZAS, going up and going down, and in the end finding yourself at exactly the same spot you started from.

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