Roiter, Sean 2007 Journal May 7 Aldea Pinalito, in mountains E of Zacapa, Depto: Zacapa, Guatemala For our last day of the trip, we tried to get to an area in the mountains east of Zacapa where the map shows a dirt road goin near 1700m. We set out early, drove through Zacapa to La Frementia, and then took a dirt road that branched off to the left at a creek. We drove on this road, which was awful, for ~40 min until we arrived at a locked gate, where we had to stop. We could see forested mountains from here, but apparently the land is all private. We need to get better maps. We drove back down, got better directions, and went on another dirt road that goes out of La Frementia to Matanzas. The road climbs steeply and soon enters oak and then pine forest. We eventually reached a puesto de salud, and continued straight until we arrived at Aldea Pinalito, where there is a mission run by Americans - Michael and Rocky Boone (52058135 - cell, 24311160 - house, [email protected]). They told us that the trail off for Matanzas is at a soccer field near the puesto de salud, and that it goes up to the cloud forest. They also told us that we could walk up to the forest in 30 min. We quickly checked some red banana trees in the area of their health clinic and found 4 B.rufescens. We left a big log with some kids who seemed willing to search more and walked up a steep path out of town through cattle pasture with 41 boys from the village. It was extremely hot and it took us, more like 45 min to get to an area on top of the ridge where the forest begins. We worked in a small, rather