#mashpi

Experimenting with surreal black-and-white in the cloud forest of Mashpi in #Ecuador. Spot the toucan in the magnolia tree!

In another attempt to memorialize this amazing adventure (and make good use of my new GoPro), I put together a compilation video of the whole trip which can be seen above.

Throughout our travels I kept note of the various animals we saw in both Mashpi and the Galápagos - oftentime asking our guides to spell out the species’ names for me. We saw over 40 different species! Since most of them were birds, I put a * next to those to differentiate.

Animal Sightings in Mashpi:

Nightjar*

Rain frog

Crested guan*

Northern barred woodcreeper*

Baudó guan*

Blue swallow*

White swallow*

Lemon-rumped tanager*

Tropical kingbird*

Collared trogon*

Broad-billed motmot*

Hummingbird*

Yellow-bellied euphoia*

Crimson-rumped toucanet*

Flame-rumped tanager*

Tayra

Owl butterfly

Emerald glass frog

Moss-backed tanager*

Glasswing butterfly

Animal Sightings in the Galápagos:

Marine iguana

Sea lion

Frigatebird*

Galápagos lava lizard

Red-footed booby*

Blue-footed booby*

Galápagos hawk*

Santa Fe land iguana

Green sea turtle

Swallow-tailed gull*

Yellow warbler*

Oystercatcher*

Nazca booby*

Medium ground finch*

Dolphin

Española Mockingbird*

Waved albatross*

Galápagos shark

Lava heron*

Blacktip shark

Whitetip shark

For our last day in Mashpi, Andres took us to the Life Center, where the in-house and visiting biologists study birds, butterflies, and several types of bugs. The main species we observed here were butterflies. Andres showed us the life cycle of the owl-eyed butterfly from egg to caterpillar, to fully grown butterfly.

These caterpillars spend about 22 days in their cacoons before they develop into the spectacular butterflies that they are. They're named owl-eyed butterflies because the underside of their wings each have a large eye, resembling that of an owl. In addition to the owl eyes, these butterflies have a snake face in the top outer corner of their wings. See if you can spot it!

When butterflies are resting, or are feeling threatened, they close their wings to display their protective patterns. Moths, on the other hand, have their protective patterns on the inside of their wings, and rest with their wings out in order to camouflage.

Before we left, we also saw a few different types of glass-winged butterflies. These were spectacular in a different way. Their wings are transparent, like glass, so they're hard to spot, but once you see them, it's hard to stop watching.

There was some confusion about what time breakfast was, so my parents didn't get to eat before going to the Life Center. The staff was so caring and accommodating, that they made us our own breakfast of fruit, eggs, bread, and jam, upon our return to the lodge.

As our time in Mashpi was coming to an end, we were forced to say our goodbyes to Andres. It was a bit sad as he was the best guide we could have asked for. He let me and Jon practice our Spanish with him (although Jon doesn't need much practice), he was extremely knowledgeable about the interesting plants and animals living in the rainforest, and he was both patient and encouraging.

After doing our fairwells, we packed up, checked out, and enjoyed the wifi before heading back to Quito where the wifi is extremely spotty. I have to get these blogs posted when I can!

At 6 am the next morning, we were off to the airport to catch our flight to the Galapagos! The trip was about 4 hours, including a stop in Guayaquil. A bus was waiting at the Baltra Island airport to take a group of us to our ship, the Santa Cruz II. We recognized a few of the other families on the bus, who were in Mashpi with us.

When we boarded the ship, the crew gave us a briefing, safety instructions, and of course, the standard muster drill. Once we were feeling safe, we ate lunch, rested, and were taken on our first excursion to Mosquera Islet which is a long shallow reef. One edge of the island is bordered with black rocks covered in bright red crabs, and the rest of the island is a sandy beach. We walked down the beach and saw our first sea lions of the trip, along with two marine iguanas, and a frigate bird.

The Galapagos is the only place endemic to marine iguanas. It is expected that land iguanas drifted here on floating debris, and evolved to be able to swim. They are pretty small and hard to spot against the black rocks, but are very interesting to look at.

At 6:30 am every morning, the lodge hosts a binocular training. We learned how to properly adjust and use binoculars. We also learned that the binoculars we own aren't great; however, that whole saying about the early bird is right - the forest was filled with birds for us to spy on. One of the birds we saw was a Baudó Guan, which is sadly endangered due to hunting and habitat destruction.

To prepare for another day of adventure, we all decided to wear quick dry pants and bathing suits, so we wouldn't have to walk around all soggy. This was a good idea since the first stop on our morning adventure was, you guessed it, another waterfall! None of us got under the fall this time but we of course snapped a few pics.

Down stream from this waterfall was what Andres referred to as a jacuzzi. In nature speak, that means a mini waterfall and a pool of water we could swim in. We encouraged Matt to get under the mini waterfall since this could be his last chance. After a little pushing, he bravely dunked himself in the cold water and marched under the waterfall. We were so proud.

We dried ourselves off and continued to follow the river for a few hours. This river hike was definitely a highlight for me. Looking down, we saw a beautiful, clear stream with red and grey rocks, and looking up we saw a breathtaking rainforest. What more could you want?

The river took us to Mashpi's Dragonfly, which is a 500 m (1,640 ft) tall open-air gondola that moves through the trees. We lucked out with a clear day, and were able to see mountains far away.

We were all starving at this point so we ran into the lodge and ate as quickly as we could. Luckily, lunch was served buffet style so we were able to satiate ourselves in a timely manner. Our full stomachs accompanied us to bed, where we power-napped between adventures.

We woke up feeling less powerful, with Peggy standing over our beds and rushing us downstairs. It appeared that we all overslept and had to get moving while still half asleep. This afternoon activity was with another family and they were already in the van waiting for us...oops. The other group was from outside of Stuttgart, Germany, and didn't seem bothered by our lateness.

The van took us to a hummingbird garden which was surrounded by feeders filled with sugar water. There were also a few perches with bananas on top to attract some larger animals.

I had never seen a hummingbird up close before. They are so much smaller and faster than I imagined. These birds move so quickly that they sound like flys when they zoom by you. Andres told us that they flap their wings up to 90 beats per second!

The guides surprised us with a snack of cheese, bread, olives, and wine. We toasted to them and our new German friends, and then went back to the hotel for about an hour to recharge and delete the excess pictures we took from the day.

In addition to hummingbirds we spotted a crimson-rumped toucanet and a tayra, which is part of the weasel family.

The last outing was a night tour to see if we could find any frogs. Peggy was excited because we got to use the headlamps she bought us, and I have to say it did make me feel like a real explorer; however, it was even harder to find animals in the dark than I thought it would be. Somehow Andres managed to find an owl-eyed butterfly and an emerald glass frog, both perched on big leaves.

Tuesday was transfer day. We woke up early to hit the bumpy road to Mashpi. Apparently only the last hour of the drive was supposed to be rocky, but we were swaying the whole way there.

About half way through the drive, we stopped at Tulipe Archaeological Site Museum to see some plants native to the country. Our guide showed us ginger and pineapple plants in addition to cacao, coffee, coca, & papaya trees. I didn't realize that pineapple grows like that!

Soon enough, we arrived at Mashpi Lodge located in Ecuador's Rainforest. We were welcomed inside with moist towels and exotic juice. Then, we were given a tour of the beautiful lodge which is on National Geographic's list of Unique Lodges of the World. Check out the room - equipped with floor to ceiling windows so you can experience the rainforest from your bed!

We quickly ate, got oriented, and were introduced to our guide, Andres. Our first adventure in Mashpi was the Ski Bike, which is a 200 m (655 ft) pedal-powered gondola. Biking through the cloud forest was completely surreal. We were gliding over the treetops at our own pace, with little between us and nature.

Jon and I took turns pedalling (and GoProing), even though the bikes were clearly not made for tiny people like us. We both had to lean far back in our seat to reach the pedals which made it a bit of a quad workout. Best view I've ever had whilst cycling!

Post-workout, Andres escorted us to a river so that we could cool off. Turns out that the river was connected to a waterfall, which Andres encouraged we walk under. Still dressed in our hiking clothes, Jon, Peggy, and I lined up to get soaked. Jon was going to go first, but hesitated, so I marched in. Jon and Peggy followed suit while Matt stayed dry and snapped a few pics. The water was refreshing and the experience was invigorating. That was my first time under a waterfall and it was a surprise to boot! I couldn't believe the whole adventure was only 3 hours - it felt like it could have been an entire day.