Birds, in particular, thrived here. For millions of years annual bird migration from the US, Canada and Mexico have passed though Guatemala and still do. Butterfly on a coffee plant leaf. Lowland coffee denudes the countryside of everything but coffee. Pesticides and modern fertilizers pollute the water and air.
Animal life is all but non-existent.
Under the shade trees. Even more important to the local ecology, shade trees are planted to protect the coffee from the bright tropical sun. These shade trees offer a place for the migratory birds to flourish. H ighland coffee production, such as we have here in Atitlan, is one of the few occasions when the needs of modern man are not fulfilled at the cost of the rest of the species we share this planet with. Hotel San Buenaventura is no longer with us.