Ecuador: Quito to Mashpi

This morning, I was up early and checked out of my hotel for my 8am transfer to the Mashpi Lodge. It was a four-hour trip, with stops along the way to break up the voyage! Our first stop was about an hour out of town, and was right near the volcanic crater where I had lunch yesterday. The good thing about it this morning, is that there was no fog or clouds, so I could see the caldera and the people living inside it!

Our next stop was about an hour later at a place called Tulipe. This was an archeological site with various petroglyphs and mounds and dug out pits meant to represent the sun, the moon, and even a jaguar! After spending a few minutes at the museum, we had some refreshments. I had tea and an empanada stuffed with cassava and cheese. 

We drove the rest of the way on less than  ideal roads, but eventually made it to the nature reserve and lodge. Once I got all checked in, it was lunch time, so I went down for lunch, where I was told it would be another 5 minutes or so before the meal was ready. Just about that time a jaguar who was still very young came around sniffing at our food! One of the guides playfully led it away from the lodge and back to the forest. I was surprised at how much like a house cat the jaguar acted: it rubbed its head and neck on the guide's legs, it chased him back away from the lodge like they were playing a familiar game...

After the excitement of the baby jaguar, we had lunch and then a little downtime before our 3pm excursion briefing. I was thankful for the time to rest, because although I rarely get carsick, the mountainous, curvy and bumpy ride to Mashpi had upset my stomach slightly.

At the excursion briefing, I met the group I'll be doing excursions with the next few days: a lovely couple from the UK and a group of three American women who work at the US embassy in Quito and one of their 11-year-old daughters. We learned more about the lodge and the unique ecosystem we are fortunate enough to get to spend a few days, and also that it was an ocelot (not a baby jaguar) that I had seen earlier. Mashpi gets on average 216 inches of rain each year. This comes as no surprise as the rain had started to pour down at around 2 that afternoon. I was still debating whether I was going on the excursion, when they told us it was the "air bike" which is kind of like a zip line that doesn't zip... There is a wire across a valley that a two-person contraption hangs on while one person pedals bike pedals to make the contraption move along the wire. Even though I got soaking wet and didn't get to see much in the way of floura and fauna, I definitely went on the air bike. We also hiked to the top of a metal view tower, which on a clear day, I'm sure had a lovely view, but since it was pouring down rain, we didn't get to see much for our effort of climbing to the top. We then hiked back through the rain to the lodge, where I was happy to take a shower and change into dry clothes! After a little downtime, it was time for dinner, which was delicious!