Is it possible to have a true luxury resort in the middle of the Ecuadorean cloud forest in the Choco region and located virtually in the middle of nowhere and 3.5 hours outside of Quito, Ecuador? The answer is a resounding: Yes, and its name is Mashpi Lodge.
It is not the easiest task to get there, but so worth it for the nature lover. For me, it took three flights to get to Quito arriving at 11:30 p.m., then a 45-minute transfer to the JW Marriott Quito for a 1:00 a.m. check-in, then a 7:00 a.m. journey for 3.5 hours, which includes the last hour being on dirt roads and the final two or so miles being quite rough. Then you arrive a modern, but fairly non-descript entrance to Mashp Lodge. Oh, but when you enter the lodge your first word will be “Wow!”
The first thing you notice is glass everywhere, with views of the cloud forest. This modern building has a nice lobby, a lecture room (where you receive your orientation), an outdoor viewing area, a small spa and fitness area, two secluded hot tubs, and a three-story restaurant and bar area.
The rest of the lodge is dedicated to the very large rooms with an overall capacity of just 48. (During my time there, it varied from 47 to 12 but never felt crowded.)
I had a corner room with tons of glass, a king plus size bed, large desk, sitting area and nice, but compact, bathroom. The rooms are kept cold and dehumidifiers run constantly throughout the day, but not at night. You are in the middle of a 95% humidity area, so you will welcome the dryness, but bring a sweater for your room.
It was amazing to me that the building is so well sealed there were no surprise insects or critters in my room or anywhere inside the lodge.
The staff was incredibly friendly, fluent or fluent enough in English, and enthusiastic to do whatever it takes to make your time one of your best experiences anywhere. The same holds true for the expedition staff, but I will talk about them in a bit.
As for the cuisine, and yes, there is cuisine in the wilderness. The ever-changing menu as a nice combination of Ecuadorean and classic dishes, generally with three starter and three main choices plus a vegetarian option. And there is a nice salad bar at lunch. A couple of my favorite Ecuadorean dishes included Encebollado, a soup of grilled blue fin tuna, cassava, pickled onion, and tomato, Sacha Inchi (an Inca nut) Flavored Mixed Ceviche. The chicken and lamb stews were also quite good.
You may have noticed there is a good bit of seafood. One needs to get a geographical orientation to understand why, While you fly into Quito in the Andes Mountains at 8,500 feet, Mashpi is fairly close to the coast and is at about 3,000 feet. The essentially downhill drive to Mashpi becomes quite noticeable. (Also, no worries about altitude sickness.)
Now, onto the expedition!
As I arrived late morning, the plan is to first have you be orienated to both the lodge and what the activities are and how they operate. After that you settle into your room and have lunch. After lunch you have your first activity. There are a wide variety of activities, all of which are rated Easy, Moderate, or Extreme. Having done most of the Moderate ones, extreme really means “extreme” for most people. That said, there are activities that are available for those with limited mobility (no canes, wheelchairs, etc.) or with children.
You are assigned a guide for your stay, which is generally two to three days. As I was traveling solo, they assigned me to a group of age-appropriate, but not fitness or activity appropriate, folks. Once the expedition leader saw the group after they arrived, he immediately placed me with two 27-year-old women. Whew! (Though by the end of my two days with them, they admitted I was in better shape than they were!) Our guide was excellent and, importantly, cautious. He well knew of people saying they can hike and be more active and then not being able to. So, for the first activity he was gentle with me. It was sweet.
Before you head out, you are fitted with muck boots and, if you did not bring appropriate rain gear, a long poncho. Trust me, you will need both, so if you don’t have a good lightweight hiking rain jacket get one. Now. all geared up, and sprayed with insect repellant, the first activity was the Sky Bike.
We had a gentle hike to a tower where you board a virtual bike in the sky. The person in front enjoys the view and looks for wildlife and the person in the back peddles. When you get to the far tower you can disembark and hike or switch places for the ride back. My guide said he was happy to peddle both ways…and who was I to argue. It was quite cloudy, so the views weren’t really anything you could photograph, but it was a view I will remember.
Afterwards we took an easy hike to a small waterfall where our guide found a glass frog; which you can literally see its organs through its skin. Very cool.
The flowers, berries and plants we passed were just equally beautiful and, with their special adaptations, equally interesting.
Upon returning to the lodge, our guide asked if we wanted to take a Night Walk. Well, of course! It is about an hour wandering along trails in the dark with flashlights looking for frogs, snakes, and insects. While there are nightly lectures on different subjects at 7:00 p.m., it seems that Night Walks at the same time are an alternative, rather than starting at 7:30 p.m. Regardless, the was very interesting and fun. Frogs, tarantula, stick bugs, tarantula, scorpions, and more.
After the night walk, it was time for a hot shower, and then dinner. Dinner is open-seating and available from 7:00 p.m. to 10:00 p.m. Having basically not slept for two nights, I slept well. But, as had been arranged after the night walk, we would be out on our second activity at 8:00 a.m. sharp: The Hummingbird Garden.
Before departing on a 25-minute drive to the hummingbird area, there was 6:30 a.m. birdwatching from the third story patio and breakfast. The better birdwatching was actually at my breakfast table when a Green Toucanet appeared in the tree right outside the window.
We arrived to little activity, but once our guide put out feeders and bananas, the birds were everywhere. Fascinating colors and behaviors by both hummingbirds and different tanagers.
We decided to take the 3.5 mile walk back to the lodge rather than the van ride. It is just so beautiful and it was so peaceful, just taking it all in. There were some Red-Banded Shoemaker butterflies hatching out that was just beautiful.
After lunch it was time to check out the Dragonfly, a sort of open-air gondola that offers a 45-minute ride over and through the cloud forest canopy. One gets a good perspective of where you have been and will be, which is hard when you are living under the forest canopy. While we didn’t see any toucans or sloths (monkey sightings are even rarer this time of year), it was a great experience and, even though it is the only extra-cost experience ($39), it is well worth it.
But even though I thought it would be the highlight of my afternoon, it wasn’t. We stayed on the Dragonfly, partially returning but stopping at Tower 4 to disembark for a hike. It was explained as a hike following the river to the Magnolia waterfall. Well, that wasn’t quite accurate for it was a hike “through” the river. Just spectacular, beautiful and peaceful. Photos could not capture it, so after a couple of shots for this article, it was a definite “Put the Camera Down” experience.
A word on the difference between Moderate and Extreme ratings. This hike was definitely Moderate until you came to the end, which was a very steep climb up the side of the mountain, including over 500 steep rudimentary stairs. While I was fine during the climb, the two 27-year-old women (who started the day before focused on hiking) suffered, one saying later that she almost didn’t go to dinner because she couldn’t face the stairs and the following morning chose a massage over a hike. I didn’t experience any Extreme hikes, but know that they will be challenging.
That evening I was preparing myself to depart the next day and approached Reception with a couple of logistics questions. The reply, “You aren’t’ leaving tomorrow, you have another day!” I guess I’ve been traveling a bit too much to keep my itineraries straight. I felt both stupid and happy. It was then off on another Night Walk, finding a green vine snake, some more frogs, a tarantula, and some interesting insects.
The next day I was given my own guide for the morning (you must have a guide when you leave the lodge; not because of dangerous animals, but rather what would happen if you got lost (very easy to do) and/or was injured. The Life Center is located down a one-mile-long path and consists of a covered viewing platform and the enclosed Butterfly Garden. It was an enjoyable hour of birdwatching with a bonus visit by an Agouti.
As it was not really butterfly breeding season, or orchid bloom season (there is a large collection of orchids too) the center showed off only a few species. But it was worth a visit.
At this point, I felt like I just wanted to take in the beauty and tranquility of Mashpi, so I didn’t want another hike. (Having hiked over 10 miles in the first two days, I did get my exercise in.) I decided to tag along with another small group and revisit the Butterfly Garden before taking a massage. In typical wildlife fashion, something new happened.
A tayra came to the area. It is a beautiful and powerful animal that I had never seen before. That alone was worth the afternoon’s visit.
My massage was quite good and set me up for a very relaxing last evening at Mashpi, so I headed to the Bar and had a couple of excellently prepared cocktails.
The last day is arranged for a morning activity before the 3.5-hour drive back to Quito with a box lunch. Again, as I was in such a peaceful mood, I went back to the Life Center for some birdwatching. Off in the distance was a Yellow Throated Toucan visible only with a spotting scope, but definitely within earshot.
As the others went into the Butterfly Garden, I was left in the peaceful view of the birds where I found myself the bliss of not needing to find any new birds or other wildlife, but just enjoy my last bit of time, privately, the beauty and sounds of Mashpi Lodge.
Many people come to Mashp Lodge for two or three days on its own. I found it a perfect pre-expedition Ecuadorean nature experience before heading to another Ecuadorean nature experience: The Galapagos.
