Jardin Escultorico Edwards James, Las Pozas

One day, I was scrolling through Instagram, and I saw a photo of someone playing in the jungle on these large, stone structures. Where is this? I had to know! It looked like the perfect adventure in my book, and I wanted in on it. After doing a basic amount of research, I found out all about Las Pozas at the Jardin Escultorico Edward James.

Las Pozas is an unbelievable playground for adults. It was created by the mind of art patron and poet Edward James who searched for the best land he could find to create his wonderland. He discovered the mountains in San Luis Potosí and knew that he had found the perfect location. With the help of a local Mexican man who bought the land for the British art patron, Las Pozas was initiated. In the past, the gardens featured beautiful orchids and exotic animals. After they were destroyed in a great frost in 1962, the surrealist sculptures began construction, and they stole the show.  By the time James passed away in the 1980s, over 36 surrealist sculptures stood tall over the trees of his land. This is the Las Pozas that we know today.

Arriving in Las Pozas, you enter into a jungle-like environment up in the hills of the Sierra Madre. As you enter the garden, all around you is greenery and plant life. (Joking around, my friend and I dubbed this “Jurrassic Park, Mexico.”) “The Stairway to Heaven” greets you to your left as you head towards a circular structure that leads you down a path to the rest of this wonderland. This is, perhaps, the most beautiful structure featuring many circular stairways, all leading to one very small platform on top of it.

As you pass it and enter through the circular sculpture, the structures climb higher and higher up the mountainside, featuring stories-high concrete stairs, flats, and formations that peak out over the tree tops. The best part about this experience is that you can play on any of them.

As I climbed and balanced on the structures, the hardest part for me was knowing that the stairs had no railings. We’d be climbing stairs high above the greenery that circled around structures with nothing on either side, and the fear of heights within myself would peak on the narrow stairways. If you fall, it is likely that you might not live to tell the tale.  But, as everyone says, the best things in life exist on the other side of fear. Conquering that fear to come out above the trees and waterfall of the jungle of San Luis Potosi was the best thing about my trip to Mexico.

There is one structure in particular near the top of the mountain that overlooks the waterfall and all of the garden and trees. You can sit up there and listen to the rustling of the trees and here the splashing of the waterfall. There, you can find true nirvana. That was worth everything. If you like adventure, playing, and exploration, absolutely find that tiny spot in the mountains of San Luis Potosí, and you will be in Heaven.

If you’re able to stop at Las Pozas for a full day, you’ll be able to spend ample time in the namesake of the park, too, Las Pozas. These are gorgeous natural pools of water that are spread out near the back of the park. There’s a waterfall, structures scattered out across these pools, and tons of families playing in the water. It’s a very unique and incredible place. I absolutely recommend that you stop in there if you ever find yourself near Xilitla in Mexico.