[from The Believer]
“Mexico is definitely a surrealistic country,” my friend Luis said. I had heard this argument—that Mexico is a surreal country—many times before, sometimes from Mexicans, like Luis, sometimes from foreigners. And for those who believe in it, Xilitla is one of the principal shrines and manifestations of Mexican surrealism.
Sitting by the square, Xilitla looked like most of the small Mexican pueblos I had been to. We had come there to see what made it different: a group of sculptures located just outside of town that an amazingly wealthy and eccentric Englishman named Edward James worked on until his death, in 1984.
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