In the trees of Guatemala

We all spend so much time looking at our phones these days – but in Guatemala, instead of staring down at a screen, you’ll find yourself constantly craning your neck back to scan the treetops for beautiful birds and playful monkeys.

I wasn’t sure what to expect from Guatemala, given the largely negative news coverage; while there was clearly poverty in the area we visited, it also felt stable and safe (though admittedly our group did have a few discreet policemen following us).  And the people I met – the guides and hotel workers – were uniformly thrilled and grateful to have us there and to show us their country.  When the hotel gardeners saw that I was carrying my camera and looking up in the trees, they’d point out a bird or some other interesting creature that I’d missed.

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So many birds I’d never seen before!

Aracari toucans

Turquoise browed motmot

Elegant trogon

Guinean trogon

Keel billed toucan, aka “fruit loops”

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Then there are the monkeys – black howlers and spider monkeys.  The howlers were all around our hotel, happily eating leaves and quite unconcerned even by two dozen zoom lenses pointed at them.  One afternoon while I was on my own, I happened across a baby howler just across from me while her family rustled through the leaves nearby…

The spider monkeys seemed more solitary, and therefore a bit harder to spot; they also tended to stay higher up in the trees, swinging with their long limbs or dangling by their tails while munching away.

I could have watched them for hours – or at least until my neck started to hurt from looking up!