A nakamal on Maewo
After a 5k walk through the forest on Maewo we visited the nakamal of our guide, the community center for his village of three people.

We’re sitting in a coral-strewn anchorage in front of Ansanvari, a 200-person village located at the bitter end of Maewo, a long sliver of an island with only 4000 residents, lying in the eastern part of Vanuatu. I’m picking the mud out of my toes and trying to steady my brain after consuming two coconut cups of freshly ground kava, a local beer with marijuana-like effects.

The mud and kava, along with a full brain, are the result of a six-hour trek through the woods to a “bat cave” with Barry, a villager who lives in his own mini village above a waterfall on the outskirts of Asanvari. Barry’s village consists of just three families—his, his brother’s and a cousin’s—and I’m guessing that it is because it’s located along the path to the cave that Barry has assumed the mantle of local tour guide. This year we’re only the second visitor to come sailing into Asanvari (which is the only way to visit), and the path was only recently re-cleared of the verdant brush that grows rapidly in the volcanic soil and heavy rains.

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