Enter the weird world of surrealism...

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Driving through fog on an already brosk morning is enough to chill you to your bones, add to this a blast of air conditioning, an open window and not enough warm clothes and you have one cold Zoe. My legs were so cold that I took the seat covers off the chairs infront and draped them over myself and tried to hibernate under my rucksack. This is why most people travel with large fluffy blankets, the QVC sort with pictures of wolves or a Disney princesses on.

Once the sun started to burn through the cloud the Sierra Gorda began to reveal itself, like a crumpled duvet stretched out as far as the eye can see. Pricked with cacti and shrubs, it certainly made for good 'staring out of window' opportunities as we twisted our way through the mountains. Descending into the selva below the landscape changed from dry shrub to tropical jungle, all vines, creepers and large-leaved trees.

Xilitla is a complete contrast to the elegance of the colonial cities of the high planes, this town was hot, humid and shabby. The location I guess was what attracted Edward James to this jungle hotspot in 1945.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Edward_James[/url
Being rich, he had plenty of time on his hands to support the arts and started dabling in surrealism..he was once described by Dali "as the most surreal of all the surrealists". Having moved to Califonia, he started looking for a place to build his Garden of Eden and chose Mexico as an ideal location. He spent 20 years constructing bizarre concrete sculptures and buildings such as the House With a Roof like a Whale, the House With Three Stories That Might be Five, the Fleur-de-Lys Bridge and Cornucopia, the St. Peter and St. Paul Gate, the Temple of the Ducks, the House Destined To Be a Cinema. They are straight from the depths of a fantastical imagination and must have looked like a dream scene when they were lit up. Now, the concrete is disintegrating and the steel rods are poking through in some parts, lichen and moss have tinted the structures and creepers are reclaiming their rightful place in the jungle. It´s still an amazing place and easy to let your mind run free in the labyrinth of paths that scramble around the hillside, revealing surprises at every turn. Accompanied by the thunder of the waterfall that falls into cool turquoise pools where Edward would once have bathed.

Despite the 100% humidity, it was overcast and I was still feelingthe cold of the bus. I tucked myself into bed in my damp room and enjoyed watching shit films on cable for the rest of the evening! TV, becoming a bit of a novelty already.

Waiting for my bus at 10.00am the temperature had already hit the thirties and I was wilting in the shade..time to gain some altitude ad head to San Luis Potosi....

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