Mashpi Lodge: A Rainforest Hotel in the Clouds | Ecuador 2022

Mashpi Lodge: A Rainforest Hotel in the Clouds | Ecuador 2022

Show Video

Welcome to Mashpi, a rainforest  hotel in the clouds.   Mashpi is located in the Choco  bioregion, one of the most diverse   areas in the world. There are over 400 types  of birds, frogs, trees that are endemic here.   You can't find them anywhere  else in the world.   We just arrived here at Mashpi in time for  lunch. Fantastic timing. It has a beautiful   dining room that is all glass. You can sit  outside, but when we arrived they asked us do   you want to sit inside or outside? So of course,  we chose outside. The view here is amazing.  

The menu is three courses, and you can choose  between one of two things. So I chose the vegan   ceviche. It has hearts of palm, chocho, which  is an Andean white bean, avocado. We've got some   pickled tomato and red onion in it. Also some  corn, it looks fantastic. And of course we've got   some tostado, which is toasted corn. And because  this is a ceviche, it comes with a peanut sauce or   mani, which is very typical on the coast. Andres didn't want to eat vegan. So he got the  

consome of chicken. It comes in this  amazing, beautiful bowl. This one is   stunning. I want to steal this bowl.  But first, let's get to this ceviche.   Oh it’s good. It has all of the brightness  

of a traditional ceviche. The mani doesn't make  it taste like peanut or peanut butter.   It just gives it this nice layer. And these  beans and hearts of palm are delicious.   So Andres and I decided that each of us would  get a different dish. So we could try everything.   Somehow in this, I got the vegan menu and  he got all of my favorite things.   Lobster is my number one favorite thing  and he ordered the breaded langoustine,   which are breaded and also have wild cilantro,  which is called chilangua. So it comes with  

chilangua. It's a wild cilantro that grows  here in the forest. Also mountain garlic,   a bunch of other spices. It's  on a bed of risotto.   It looks amazing. Dehydrated lemongrass, I  can smell from here. He's across the table   from me because I moved because the sun was  hot. And then I'm not going to be upset.   My dish also looks fantastic. I actually  shouldn't say that I got the vegan menu  

because I didn't at all. My dish has pork. So it's a chocha, which is kind of like a cucumber   but it has a thicker skin so you can cook it.  It is stuffed with caramelized pork and leeks   and it's served with mashed potatoes and cherry  tomatoes, and I know it's going to be delicious.   But, you know, you always have order envy when  you see across the table someone is having seafood   even though this looks amazing. It looks  beautiful. I love this. Let's try it.  

It's like a good mash with pork,  you can't go wrong with that.   Very good, very comforting. And then a little bit  of this. I thought it was chayote but it's not.   This is actually a fruit.  Doesn't taste like a fruit.   Tastes almost like a pepper. So if you think  of having a stuffed pepper, this is kind of a   very similar take on it. But now, I want to try   the langostino. Yeah, I want to try it.  It almost looks like a lobster tail.  

It tastes like a lobster tail. While  the wild cilantro doesn't have a very   strong flavor at all, but could be because  it's cooked. It's a light lemongrass. The   risotto. This is an awesome awesome dish. I love it.   And this is the room, such clean  lines, just a bit of color.   A welcome note which is so nice. We've got  some bug repellent which you really need, bags,  

water bottles, water, which is fantastic.  And look at this view, this is gorgeous. So   pretty. And here is the bathroom, shower. Okay, so they recommend that you arrive here at   11:00 am and we weren't sure why. But now we  do because you arrive here, you eat lunch,   then you have a 3pm meeting where they brief you  on how things are going to work. And right after  

that, at 3:30pm you go on your first hike. So we're going to meet our guide. We're going up   to the sky… something or other. Anyway,  we're going on a hike. And from there,   that's where we're going to plan the next  few days of our time at Mashpi Lodge.   We now have long sleeve clothing on,   bug repellent we’re about to get boots  because there are snakes in the grass.   And what I love is that they  know people need snacks.   So that's what I'm getting for our hike.  

10 minutes in some observations. We've seen  tons of birds, it is so lush here. Very humid.   The nice thing is, I've been in  Ecuador for almost three months now. So   walking uphill is bothering me less and less. I  may still think I'm out of shape, but actually  

I can do these walks. I still don't have the proper   equipment: yoga pants, t-shirt. You  do have to wear rubber boots here.   90 feet to the top, 30 meters. Let's see  if I can do it, or I will chicken out.   I think this one will be easier actually.   Take a look at this.  

I said, we weren't at the top, wasn't  kidding. I think we're only halfway up.   What do you think? Fantastic. Are you a little  out of breath? No. Oh just me. Yep.   Well, I am all strapped in to go on the  skyline. Two seats. One of them pedals,  

it’s not going to be me. It's Andres, 15 minutes  to go across the top of the forest. I am terrified   but there's nothing I can do because I don't  pedal. I just sit and enjoy or be terrified.   Okay. It does seem like you go pretty slow. Good  job. Okay. I feel very comfortable with this. I   thought this was more of a zip line but you're  sitting down. This is actually quite beautiful.  

Oh my god, look at this view. I want to  do this again and we just started.   Guys, I have done so many things  in my life. I've been so fortunate.   This is one of the most spectacular things. I  thought it was going to be scary. It's amazing   and for someone who's afraid of heights, there's  so much tree top cover that you don't actually see   the ground ground unless you really  look. And so it's not that scary.   Our side is so cool like we are  right in the middle of it all.  

We’re almost there, almost there. You’re doing it!   Morning walk. It’s going to be three hours plus,  depends on what the group wants to do. It's   raining, and quite wet out. Obviously, we are in  a rainforest, a cloud forest, but it's not so bad,   they give you rain boots. And so going  outside is very easy, brought a rain jacket,   and even though it's raining, because this  forest is so thick most of the rain doesn't   actually make it down to you so I can hear it  raining, but I'm not getting very wet.   So this is a magnolia tree, look how high it  is. Magnolias have been around longer than  

butterflies and there are only a hundred here.  And so just another reason why conservation and   this region is so important. There are species,  which are endangered, and fortunately there's   a private reserve so we don't have to worry  that for some reason they'll disappear.   So the plan today was to come here to Magnolia  Falls and then we would decide if we would go   further. But I think this was so easy that we’ve  all agreed that we’re going to go further.   So the water that is through here is actually  not from an outside source, it's rainwater that   is captured by the forest, falls through and  then makes these waterfalls and rivers.  

So many times I've talked about how  I don't like to hike uphill. It's not   that I don't like to hike uphill but  I find it really challenging.   But that I love to walk flat but people  are very confused when I say that.  

But what I’m essentially saying is, I love  doing this. We are walking along the riverbed,   it is gorgeous. We've been going over  an hour and I could do it all day.   All right, that was absolutely  my limit. I feel great   but after we did the river we walked down a very  muddy, steep hill to a gorgeous waterfall. Oh  

and then we had to walk back a bit. So that was  hard, that was really hard. It's about half an   hour up, very muddy hill, still beautiful. But I think that was like my limit,   like my max, that I could do. Thankfully, we are  now at the end. So we're taking a firefly back,  

so Andres and I are just…Andres and I are just  waiting for the next one to come and I didn't want   to walk all the way upstairs to that thing. So, just take a little bit of a rest.   Okay, so this morning was quite a hike. But  three course lunch. Feeling good. Came out for   a late afternoon hike. We have come down to a wild  orchid garden. It also has hummingbirds, I think  

and then this beautiful observatory.  As soon as we got here we saw a toucan.   Did not get it on camera. Sorry.   Yeah, you've got like a little. No,  literally, you have a little tail.   You have a little butterfly tail.  

Yeah, keep walking. It'll probably decide or  maybe not. I think it's just is like on you.   Okay, so we were just at the butterfly farm in  Mindo and all the butterflies, well most of them   were pretty chill. And that's because a lot of  butterflies are nocturnal, especially the ones   that we saw, the owl butterflies, the ones that  are brown on the outside, looks like they have an   eye and are blue or purple on the inside. But it is five o'clock now and so   it is crazy. They are so active. You still have  one on your butt, you're like butterfly man,   and the one on your butt is still there. It's the OGm it's like I claimed this guy   and now you'll want on your head and one on  your arm. You have like three on your arms.  

Oh you’ve got now butterfly eggs on you. 6   am. We're up early because we're heading up to the  top. We're going to check out some hummingbirds,   some other things, I don't know…it's the  morning. We're going to go for a hike.   Kind of the usual thing around  here. But I am excited.   So this has actually been super interesting. I think it's really good for people like me  

who don't know about birds. And it's like, oh,  that one's pretty, that one's pretty. And then   Andres has said that he has seen a number  of birds that he's never seen before.   We're just on the side of the road as you come  into Mashpi Lodge and because of this time   of day, which they knew would be good. This is the time of day where the birds start   to feed on the moths and the bugs and the kind of  everything. So there are lots of them in the trees   and a lot of them very close to us.  It's really good for everybody.  

One of the things I love about this place is  that although this is a luxury lodge and there   are a lot of foreigners, we are surrounded by  so many fantastic ingredients in this region   and a lot of it is in the food. They have a lot of local ingredients, a lot   of wild things, had wild cilantro the first day  and so many traditional Ecuadorian foods, whether   people know they're eating it or not because the  menu is in English and then also Spanish.   So I look at the Spanish menu. I look for dishes  that I recognize but then sometimes when they come   to the table they're done in a completely  different way. And it's always a surprise.   I love that they are embracing their  culture and even though it's fine dining,   three course menu for lunch and dinner,  it's still Ecuadorian fine dining.  

Guanabana or soursop is one of my favorite  and then they've got a detox juice,   which is fantastic. Moving on to the bread,   you cannot come to Ecuador without having pan de  yuca. One of my favorites. Other random breads,   you have some marmalades. Oh, oatmeal…things to put in your   oatmeal, lots of great fruits, meats. And I am  definitely having some of that cheese.  

Haven't even gotten the food yet. I just want to  mention two things. Number one, this detox juice   is fantastic. It has some celery in it. I  don't know what else. It looks like it has   some blackberry in it and some other things. It's  fantastic. Then also, it is really hard to get a   good cup of international tea in Ecuador. So there are lots of horchata, some herbal teas,   but they don't have a culture of tea. So if you  come to Ecuador, you definitely need to bring your   own. However, here they have Earl Gray, they've  got a bunch of green teas. They actually have  

several different kinds of black tea. So I am going to take advantage of this because   as a Maritimer from Canada, I am used to drinking  lots of tea. Yuca munchin in a honey sauce.   I love yuca.

2022-02-19 02:31

Show Video

Other news