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Why Bitcoiners Who Rage Quit El Salvador After the IMF Deal Will Regret It | Will Lehr of Club Cocal, James of Beef Back Better & Bitcoin Farmers Market, Ronny Avendano of the Bitcoin Hardware Store

• Mike Peterson

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0:00 | 58:39

Is El Salvador still Bitcoin country, or did the world move on the moment the IMF deal got signed? Mike sits down with Will Lehr (@thewilliamlehr) from Club Cocal, James (@beefbackbetter) from Beef Back Better, and Ronny Avendano (@ronnyavendano_) from the Bitcoin Hardware Store to talk about the Bitcoin farmers market, El Salvador real estate, self custody, and what life on a Bitcoin standard actually looks like on the ground today.

The conversation starts with the Bitcoin farmers market, which just hit its three year anniversary. What began as a small gathering in El Zonte has grown into a real engine of local commerce, connecting Salvadoran vendors, ranchers, and artisans directly with the people buying from them. No intermediaries or faceless supply chain, just a producer, a buyer, and Bitcoin changing hands. The group traces how it moved from El Zonte to its current home at Club Cocal and why it's become the meeting point for Bitcoiners from all over the country.

From there the talk shifts to why so many people are choosing to build their lives here in the first place. Will calls it a reverse brain drain, skilled people and capital flowing into El Salvador instead of out of it, drawn by a level of freedom and safety they say they can't find at home anymore. Several guests point to what they see as government overreach elsewhere, unrealized capital gains taxes in the Netherlands, wallet registration requirements in the EU, Bitcoin ATMs disappearing in Canada, as the exact pressure pushing people toward a country that's betting the other direction.

That bet shows up clearest in El Salvador real estate. Will walks through what he calls a Bitcoin floor underneath land values here, and makes the case that El Zonte now holds some of the most expensive property per square foot in the entire country. Whether that's a sign of a healthy market or a bubble waiting to pop is left for the viewer to decide, but the group is clear about where they're placing their own money.

The episode closes on something bigger than any single topic, the idea that self custody and freedom tech aren't just Bitcoin concepts, they're a full lifestyle. Ronny connects owning your own keys to owning your own food source, your own health, your own decisions, and the group makes the case that El Salvador is quietly becoming a real world test case for hyper-bitcoinization, one farmers market, one hardware store, and one ranch at a time. 

Drop a comment and tell us if you think El Salvador is still worth the bet. 

Subscribe if you want more of these conversations, and share it with the friend who keeps asking if the Bitcoin country story is over.

—Bitcoin Beach Team


Learn more about the guests:
Will Lehr — Club Cocal
X (personal): x.com/thewilliamlehr
X (Club Cocal): x.com/ClubCocal
X (Unbound Assets): x.com/UnboundAssets
Instagram: instagram.com/club.cocal
Web: clubcocal.com
Web: unboundassets.com

James — Beef Back Better & Bitcoin Farmer Market
X: x.com/beefbackbetter
X: x.com/btcfarmersmrkt
Instagram: instagram.com/beefbackbettersv
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/bitcoinfarmersmarket
Website: beefbackbetter.com
Website: bitcoinfarmersmarket.org
Linktree: linktr.ee/beefbackbetter
Linktree: https://linktr.ee/bitcoinfarmersmarket
Github: github.com/sovITxyz/bitcoinfarmersmarket.org

Ronny Avendano — Bitcoin Hardware Store
X (personal): x.com/ronnyavendano_
X (store): x.com/tbhs_sv
Web: tbhs.sv

Support and follow Bitcoin Beach:
X: https://www.twitter.com/BitcoinBeach 
IG: https://www.instagram.com/bitcoinbeach_sv 
TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@livefrombitcoinbeach
Web: https://www.bitcoinbeach.com

STAY AT BITCOIN BEACH: https://www.stayatbitcoinbeach.com/punta-mango-villas

Browse through this quick guide to learn more about the episode:
00:00  Intro
02:31  History of the Bitcoin farmers market in El Salvador
08:26  Club Cocal, Beef Back Better, and Bitcoin Hardware Store, who runs them
16:07  What it's like running a Bitcoin only hardware store in El Zonte
19:34  How much has El Zonte changed since Bitcoin arrived
22:15  Is El Salvador still Bitcoin country after the IMF deal
27:38  How food sovereignty connects to Bitcoin's sovereignty philosophy
30:53  Carnivore diet results, what actually changes when you go full meat
40:38  Is El Salvador real estate in a bubble, or is there a Bitcoin floor
50:00  What's next for the Bitcoin farmers market and the Bitcoin Histórico rodeo 

Live From Bitcoin Beach

Will Lehr:

That's what's so beautiful about what's happening here, because of the tenants of Bitcoin. There's an appreciation, there's a gratitude, and when you've been, you know, for lack of better words, enslaved in Covid Canada, or wherever you are in the West, right, and you feel that, and you come here and you feel the freedom, right? You're grateful, the Bitcoiners, and this, this sense of giving back, this gratitude for this country that's that's welcoming us, welcoming Bitcoin, welcoming these tenants of freedom and sovereignty. We just want to give back, you know. So, there's so much of that that's really beautiful to see, and I can see where it's going to pave the future of this country in a really interesting trajectory. The concept of, you know, brain drain is where all of the smart people leave a country, happened in India over the last four decades, or whatever, it happened here back in the past with all the war, and this is now sort of a reverse brain drain, because of the opportunity here, the safety, the freedom you have, not only the smart Salvadorans coming back, you have this reverse, you have it's attracting the brightest and best minds and entrepreneurial capital around the world.

Mike Peterson:

At the Bitcoin farmers market we're going to be focusing on today, and that's one of the things I love about El Salvador. Like, where else you know can you find an ongoing Bitcoin farmers market that's happening? Do you guys, is it four times a month or twice a month? Twice a month, twice a month, that's, you know, everybody can come and get their locally grown food or raised beef, pay for it in Bitcoin. You guys have Salvadoran vendors that are there, so I love what you guys have done with that. So, Owen, why don't you give us the history, like how what was the genesis idea behind it? What are the different iterations that this has taken? I know for a while it was, I think you guys were doing it both in El Zonte and Berlin. Am I correct?

James:

Yeah, that's correct.

Mike Peterson:

And now it's at Club Cocal, and that's correct, San Blas. Where's that right next to San Blas?

Will Lehr:

Yep,

Mike Peterson:

What do you tell people? Sun Blas,

Will Lehr:

But yeah, I mean, the Puma, Puma gas station, right behind the Puma, yeah,

James:

Correct, yeah. And shout out to Owen, he's the founder of

Mike Peterson:

Oh, sorry, Beef Back Better. I'm actually James.

James:

It's okay, not a big deal.

Mike Peterson:

We mentioned his name earlier, and,

James:

Yeah, we were shout out to Owen, right? Yeah, we were actually just talking about you, Owen. If you're seeing this, hope you're doing well, mate.

Mike Peterson:

All good things.

James:

Yeah, absolutely. So, yeah, basically the Bitcoin farmers market is a place for people to connect directly with producers. We have a whole range of things. We have the beef that we raise, we have all sorts of different organic producers, we have artisans, both people that have come to El Salvador to, like, you know, make a better life, as well as locals that are looking to sort of leverage the, I guess, what I would say is that there's more discerning people that are moving here constantly with the growth in El Salvador, they want high-quality products, so they are coming here, and they are buying really high-quality stuff from local artisans, producers, and it's a nice sort of.. there's a nice sort of cross-pollinization between locals and extranjeros there. So we are operating for three years, every two weeks, we're in El Zonte, now we're in Club Cocal, still in Surf City, and it's a nice time. That's the simplest way that I can put it. Come spend your sats, Bitcoin is money, and enjoy yourself.

Mike Peterson:

And are the most people there? Are they people that come back every two weeks, or is it mostly people that are visiting in El Salvador? Or what's the customer base like?

James:

It's a mix. Yeah, I would definitely say it's a mix. I'm happy, proud to say that when people are just visiting El Salvador, maybe they're doing a little bit of recon here, checking out the country, quite often they swing by. But then we also have folks, whether they're from El Salvador or people that live here, we have a regular customer base as well. We have quite a mix. I don't know, I don't have any hard data.

Mike Peterson:

Yeah.

James:

On the exact percentages, but I would say it's a mix.

Ronny Avendano:

It's all anecdotal, but you know, you have the foreigners who are coming here on their reconnaissance mission, and they want to see what their life would look like on just, you know, if I move to El Salvador, where can I get my stuff? Who do I hang out. With and so we have that crowd who are coming and just experiencing what El Salvador and what Bitcoin country is like and what maybe living on a Bitcoin standard might feel like, and then we have the Salvadorans and the people who've officially moved here, that this is like personally before I started working with James and helping him with the farmers market, it was just my place where I could go buy stuff every two weeks, and I would make sure that I had a list of, like, this is what I need for my week, because I want to get it directly from my vendors. I want to avoid going to Super Selectos as much as possible, and so we do get the Salvadoran vendors, we have the people who have moved here, and even Hermanos Lejanos, which are Salvadorans that live abroad, that are coming back, we get those bunch that come to the market, and then the people who are thinking of coming to El Salvador and want to see what it's like, what their life might look like while they're down here. So, there's.. it's a great mix of people, and it's always good to see new, new faces. We get new faces all the time. Every week, there's somebody new that we're meeting, and someone who's interested in El Salvador. And then there's just the familiar faces that it definitely feels like a community, and it feels like we're at home whenever we go to Club Cocal and celebrate the market.

Mike Peterson:

Hey guys, just a reminder, the best way to really understand how Bitcoin is impacting El Salvador and what's happening here is to get some boots on the ground and come visit, and of course, we're excited now to have locations both in El Zonte and Punta Mango, where we have guest homes there that you can rent, that everything can be done in Bitcoin. So we have the Bitcoin Beach Suites in El Zonte, and we have Punta Mango Villas in Punta Mango, and you can find all that on the Stay at Bitcoin Beach website. So make sure that you check that out, and if you're planning on coming down, make sure you're staying at a place where Bitcoin is going to be welcomed, and that you'll be surrounded by other Bitcoiners.

James:

It's also great having the hardware store there. There's not too many places in the world where you can buy a steak on a Coldcard.

Ronny Avendano:

At the same, the same hour. Yeah,

James:

whilst you're just sort of..

Mike Peterson:

And use you well, I guess. You wouldn't probably use your spend with your Coldcard at the thing for it all in Bitcoin,

Ronny Avendano:

that'd be bad practice. I wouldn't recommend that. No, no, not at all.

James:

There is a bit of a peer to peer exchange going on there as well, which is really cool to see. Like, if you're ever in El Salvador and you need to buy some KYC free corn, there's a bit of that going on there as well, you love to see it.

Ronny Avendano:

One of the good things I think, and it's to you really, is an homage, is like how organic everything feels, you know. There's

James:

nothing by accident.

Ronny Avendano:

One of the things is that James likes to say is, have fun staying permissionless. People ask us all the time, how do we participate, and it's really accept Bitcoin, learn how to accept Bitcoin if you don't know how to bring good products and just be friendly, that's really it's really all we ask. And then anyone is more than welcome to come by and sell and be a part of what we're trying to do, and it's the same thing, like at the hardware store. If people are going to come, there just needs to be a place where you feel welcome, and you feel like all your questions, you're not going to get pushed aside and, and looked at less for not knowing. No, we're here to help, and we're here to have help people assimilate and get used to what it's like being down here in El Salvador. And so, having a location like Club Cocal, and having all these different vendors, and everybody being kind of on the same boat, you know, it's like Bitcoin, it's decentralized, but we have a foundation, a very strong foundation that most of people I think tend to agree with.

Mike Peterson:

Before we get deeper into it, I'd like to just go around the horn and have you guys just introduce yourself real quick, and a little bit of your background, and then what role you're playing in the Farmers Market, just for people that might not know you, to make sure that since we have four people here on today.

Will Lehr:

Cool. I'll start. My name is Will with Club Cocal, which we are now the host of the farmers market.

Mike Peterson:

And explain what is Club Cocal.

Will Lehr:

Club Cocal is well, we're a real estate lifestyle company here. We Club Cocal, the location is our beachfront headquarters, just 20 minutes east of here at Playa Cocal, right next to San Blas. A lot of people are very familiar with Playa San Blas, and

Mike Peterson:

When you say east of here, that might confuse some people. That's still on the beach, that the coast runs east to west in El Salvador.

Will Lehr:

Yep, yeah, yep, south facing beach, nothing between us and Antarctica, except for Easter Island, way out there in the middle of nowhere, but yeah, so we, you know, we're all about community, bringing clients, bringing investors down. I came down here and fell in love with El Salvador three years ago, went to a farmer's market, an amazing place to be able to go and drop in with local community, right in a place you know no people, and so that's a huge value add for travelers, for people coming here, for people visiting. We're hosting a lot of people that are coming down, and it's like, oh, you're going to be in town for the whatever weekend that is, make sure you come to the farm. Market, and everybody that does is very thrilled and happy to do so, but yeah, it happened really organically. We'll get to that later, but yeah, we, we do real estate community, and that's what was so cool about bringing the farmers market to Club Cocal is providing the space for the community to come together every couple weeks.

Mike Peterson:

James,

James:

Yeah, so different industry, but similar story to Will. I came to El Salvador as, I guess, COVID refugee. I was living in Canada, I was doing an engineering degree there, and it became intolerable.

Mike Peterson:

Are you Canadian?

James:

I'm not, I'm Australian. Yes, that Canadian accent sounds a little weird. Yeah, it's a little off, but yeah, I was there, and I loved Canada, but unfortunately things got a little crazy in 2020 21. Ended up here, fell in love with the place, and ended up taking over Beef Back Better from Owen, and starting the Farmer's Market, and that's my life.

Mike Peterson:

And maybe explain a little bit about what Beef Back Better is, just for people who don't know.

James:

Yeah, sure. So we are a local beef ranch. We have the ranch out in Los Cóbanos, and we do grass-fed, grass-finished, chemical-free beef. I really believe that beef is freedom tech, and I'm not smart enough to be a, a shadowy cypherpunk super coder, but I am, I am dumb enough to raise cattle, so that's what I decided to add to the freedom stack, and that's what I do. Here, here, here,

Mike Peterson:

When you say you're dumb enough, I'm assuming because of how much work it is. Yeah,

James:

Yeah, it's very fulfilling work, but it's, it's, yeah,

Mike Peterson:

Yeah. We, we raised cattle growing up,

James:

Never a dull moment. I mean, it's beautiful. Yeah, it's amazing.

Mike Peterson:

Is the ranch on the, like, is it on the coast or is it up in the mountain?

Unknown:

It's on the coast. It is okay in Los Cóbanos. So, for people unfamiliar with El Salvador, it's basically about an hour and a half along the coast from El Zonte.

Mike Peterson:

Yeah,

James:

Yeah,

Ronny Avendano:

West.

Mike Peterson:

Yeah, for west, For people who were came to the halving party, it's pretty close. Yeah, correct. Halving party, yeah, it's right there.

James:

Shout to the halving party, actually. yeah, another one, yeah, me too. Actually,

Mike Peterson:

Yeah,

Ronny Avendano:

We're halfway there,

Mike Peterson:

Halfway there.

Ronny Avendano:

We're a little bit over halfway, okay? Yeah,

James:

Early 20 summer

Will Lehr:

Of 28 early 28

Ronny Avendano:

Yeah. I would assume, based on where we're at now, like maybe April, May of 2020 similar, April, yeah, there you go, around there, it all depends on, you know, how fast the difficulty, like, you know, how fast blocks get solved, but around there, I'd say, so

Will Lehr:

You sound like an expert in blockchain, so tell us more.

Ronny Avendano:

Segue right, yeah, well, you know, my name is Ronny, from the Bitcoin Hardware Store, we've, we know each other very well, and I've been on your podcast before, so I'm Salvadoran Canadian. I've been living here for five years. Before I moved here, I was not a Bitcoiner, and I say this all the time. I just wanted a little bit of freedom from, you know, that Canada, that COVID Canada, and decided to use my Salvadoran passport, and to come experience life down here, and I always get the question, wasn't it dangerous when you came down here? And yes, it definitely was a different place than it is today, but the trend line, you know, me being a finance guy and having some finance financial background, I always look at value. I think for me value is something very, very important, and I saw that El Salvador was extremely undervalued based on the its past based on people's perception of El Salvador and the country, the economy, and safety and security, but it was on the right track. I didn't really think El Salvador could get any worse, and if it did, well, I mean, thank God it's gotten a lot better, but Canada was on the opposite trajectory, Canada was taking freedoms away. It was feeling a lot more dangerous, and so I moved down here looking for a solution. And thankfully, you know, thanks to Bitcoin Beach, I say this all the time, I found I found a community, and I found a community of people that had similar mindsets from all over the world, wanting just some freedom, wanting to get away from tyranny and financial freedom, I say this all the time, financial freedom, you know, health freedom. You talk about decentralized medicine, we can talk about, you know, food and decentralization through food, so all of these things are really what brought me, and more than anything, kept me in El Salvador, right? It was the food, it was the people, it was the finances, and I felt like this was the right place for me to spend some more time. And so now it's been five years, for the past year and a bit. I maybe a past year I've been working with James, because I was just a customer of the farmers market, you know, the Bitcoin hardware store. We focus on educating. People through my journey, myself as early as a young Bitcoiner, and learning about custody and learning about responsibility, wanting to pass that on to people, and James started the farmers market. I was just a customer, and then I decided that, or thanks to James, and been able to help help people understand Bitcoin, help the vendors get on a bit more of a Bitcoin standard, help them answer any of their questions, and then for me, I'm extremely proud to be a part of this, because it's part of my daily life, you know, the farmers market solves so many of my the problems that I was having here in El Salvador, with understanding where my food was coming from, and having a bit more of a connection to the way that your food is is brought to your plate, right. And so it was very, very important for me. I'm a bit more of a nerd and the tech guy, so I don't know the troubles of what it's like to raise cows and to have a farm, but I feel like there are a lot of similarities between financial sovereignty and health sovereignty, individual sovereignty. So that's what brings me to the table. And happy to be here.

Mike Peterson:

Awesome. Yeah, I still remember I was, I think I left for the summer, I would go back to run our business in the US summer, coming back and driving down the road, and, and seeing the Bitcoin hardware store, and I was like, what, this is amazing. Like, I had no idea it was going in. You guys weren't open yet, but you had, like, the sign up already, and yeah, and you guys did such a professional job with it. I was like, this is unreal. Like, where else in the world do you have a store that's devoted just to Bitcoin hardware devices and education? You guys do education there too, but to have it be in this small little surf town, like, and, and I was a little bit worried at first, then, like, is there gonna be enough, like,

Ronny Avendano:

Interest

Mike Peterson:

Customer base to, like, sustain that, but then remember seeing, like, you guys were always had people in and out of the store, and I was like pleasantly surprised that even from like the get go, like how it took off.

Ronny Avendano:

Yeah, thankfully we have a lot of interest. People, we're in a bit of a bear market right now, you know, just to speak the truth. And so there are ebbs and flows in the business, but people continue wanting that sovereignty, people keep wanting that responsibility and getting away from, you know, these governments, and they're starting to see the problem. So, we're always the key part for us is to help people understand why Bitcoin Beach exists, you know, why you guys started, why you guys did what you did, and how we can continue to grow that. And a lot of, a lot of people come here never even having spent Bitcoin in their entire life, they might have it on an exchange, but they didn't know that they could come buy beef with their Bitcoin, and they didn't know they could come by real estate with their Bitcoin. Then they have no idea how to do this stuff, and so for many it's it's a novelty. It's like the first time they've done it. I actually hit a big milestone for me, for myself today. I've sent today I sent my 100th on-chain transaction, so like to me that was, I saw the number because my wallet keeps track. I was like, what, that's crazy, 100 on-chain transactions. And so you know, Big El Salvador is Bitcoin country, and the market, and what we've been building here, and what you guys have been building here is the reason why many of us are here. Yeah, we're just trying to support.

James:

I mean, I think that's testament to what Mike and Bitcoin Beach started, right? I, I'm pretty confident in saying none of us would be here in this country or sitting around this table if it wasn't for you guys started. So, respect to you guys. I mean, that's

Mike Peterson:

It's been a fun ride. It's a ride, isn't it?

James:

It's been, I wouldn't have it any other way. It's been incredible. So,

Will Lehr:

Just the last three years, man, three and a half years, the growth in the community, right, and the people is just unbelievable.

James:

Even the development in El Zonte, when I first moved here in 22 is amazing. I mean, El Zonte was always beautiful, but when I first moved here, for example, the roads weren't paved. It was sleepy road, yeah,

Will Lehr:

It was a sleepy little surf town three years ago. And now look,

Mike Peterson:

No, especially if you go back, you know, even further, go back 510, years ago. I mean, unemployment was a huge issue here. Now, anybody who wants to work, I mean, the complaints I hear from businesses is they can't find employees. Yeah, so it's,

James:

Love to see it.

Mike Peterson:

It's, it's been amazing to see that transformation, and to see it. You really want to make sure when the things happen that it impacts the lives of the local people, that they're the ones that benefit from it.

Will Lehr:

That's what's so beautiful about what's happening here, because of the tenants of Bitcoin, you know, all the Bitcoiners I know, and the people I've been working with for decades that are Bitcoiners, you know, there's an appreciation, there's a gratitude, and when you've been, you know, for lack of better words, enslaved in Covid Canada, or wherever you are in the West. Right, and you feel that, and you come here, and you feel the freedom, right? You're grateful. So, there's a gratitude that's being brought here, and it's.. it's.. there's so much gratitude for, and the locals, who many of which, at least for the last few years, had this deer in the headlights look like, what is going on? We were dodging bullets, now you know, there's rich white people walking around. Let's go, you know, yeah. And so, to you know, to see that transition, and to now see the people who were the most fearful, now they've got a smile and a little pep in their step. And, but the Bitcoiners, and this, this sense of giving back, this gratitude for this country that's that's welcoming us, welcoming Bitcoin, welcoming these tenets of freedom and sovereignty. We just want to give back, you know. So, there's so much of that that's really beautiful to see, and I can see where it's going to pave the future of this country in a really interesting trajectory versus kind of what I've seen with Costa Rica develop the last 25 years. Not that they did anything wrong, but they didn't have the, you know, it was the surfer and the yogi expat, you know, explosion down there, which we will have and are having here, but we've got the Bitcoiner, you know, thing happening too, which is a whole nother, the people that are coming here in a high concentration, some of the best people on the planet, you know, coming here to build to give back

James:

The reverse brain drain, that term,

Will Lehr:

I think I did. Yeah, it's the concept of, you know, brain drain is where all of the smart people leave a country. Happened in India over the last four decades, or whatever. It happened here back in the past with all the war, yeah. And this is now sort of a reverse brain drain, because of the opportunity here, the safety, the freedom you have, not only the smart Salvadorans coming back, you have this reverse, you have that's attracting the brightest and best minds and entrepreneurial capital around the world, descending upon this tiny little, it's the fill that fill the Dixie cup with the with the fire hose analogy that we talk about in finance, sometimes when you're talking about a small market cap or whatever, that's what we're dealing with here. This is way rarer than 21 million, way rarer, whether it's a beach house or a ranch or whatever. It's just my two cents.

Mike Peterson:

So, I'd love to get you guys take.. there's been in the last year.. I don't know if it's just because the bear market or what, but, but you know, with El Salvador doing the deal with the IMF, and there's been, you know, some bit corners that have kind of left in a huff, and there's been, you know, some people that have been disillusioned. I've struggled to understand it, because from my point of view, like I see better tools coming out, people using Bitcoin more, like whether the government forces businesses to take it or not. I never really cared or thought that was the best idea, but I see more businesses and people becoming interested, and so, but maybe I just live in a bubble. So I'm curious, for you guys, are you still bullish on El Salvador as Bitcoin country? What would you say to people that are like, oh, I heard it's not really a thing there anymore. And so, yeah, I would love to get each of your individual takes on that, because that's something that that I wrestle with, because I'm like, I feel like it's better than ever. But

Will Lehr:

Yeah, this is a good one, actually. It was, it was a flushing of the weak hands, is what that was. And in a lot of ways, how you have a lot of Bitcoiners who don't understand business, right? They don't have, never run a business, they don't understand managing, employing all those things, right? Cash flow analysis, banks, legal. A lot of Bitcoiners don't understand geopolitics. Period. That's that's it, and if you've studied and you understand geopolitics, but Kelly is a genius. Okay, he's doing this dance called Staying Alive, Staying Alive. Pass it to you, bro. What do you have to say about that?

James:

Um, yeah, I understand there's a lot of fad, maybe some of it's warranted, but I guess I would just say, don't let perfect be the enemy of good to me. I would say I see El Salvador on a positive trajectory. Where I'm from, in Australia, I see it going down the tubes. Sorry to my paisanos, my Australian brethren, and my Australian Bitcoiners, but I don't see that country going in a good direction, and I see this country going in a wonderful direction. Is it this crazy Bitcoin utopia? No, but I would say it's incredibly positive, majority positive. And if you don't believe me, come check it out for yourself, find out. Simple as that.

Will Lehr:

If you're looking for perfect, this ain't the place. Yeah,

Unknown:

But I still love the places

Ronny Avendano:

We're about to celebrate the three year anniversary of the Bitcoin farmers market, and so it's been through, you know, Bitcoin has a four year cycle, ups and downs, where we're seemingly at a down right now. El Salvador seems to have gone through this as well, but then you look at the. A greater landscape, and you look at what's happening in the Netherlands, where you know Bitcoin now you can get tax for unrealized capital gains, right? And then you look at places like in the EU, where you must sign off and tell the government of your personal wallets, if not the exchanges will not send you the money, like you have to confirm that this is your personal wallet. Places like Canada, where they're removing Bitcoin ATMs, because they say it's dangerous for the people. So, I look at the outer landscape, and I, El Salvador, we're about to celebrate three years of the Bitcoin farmers market, where every week it almost seems like there's a new vendor coming in wanting to learn about Bitcoin, wanting to leverage the, you know, the foreigners that are coming here, who are looking for good products, who are looking for value. The Salvadoran is learning and wanting, because they're experiencing business for the first time, they're understanding marketing for the first time, they're understanding, wait, there's this market cap here that's untouched, because no one's ever accepted Bitcoin for popsicles, or no one's ever accepted Bitcoin for grass fed beef, and I can do direct peer to peer exchanges with that person. So, like you said, it's not this utopia I think that many people maybe think that it's like coming here, but we're building, and it's happening day to day. Like, Blink is a perfect example. Today, they announced that their wallet is now fully self-custodial. They've adopted the Spark protocol, so now every individual Blink user has 12, you know, has a 12 word seed, and so that is a huge push for Bitcoin, huge push for self custody. And Blink originated here in this country, so had we not been here, and you know, Blink, I'm sure had their problems, you know, the Bitcoin hardware store goes through ebbs and flows, Beef Back Better, the Farmers Market, Club Cocal. We all go through these ebbs and flows, but I think we're here because we realize that there is no better place to do it than here in El Salvador. You're going to come up, there's going to be some pushback, there's nowhere you're going to go is perfect. Yeah, there's going to be some pushback, but I don't see any of the pushback here. I'm, I'm going to control, and you guys might feel the same way. I'm going to do and control what I can. What I can't, I'm not going to focus too much on that. And, thankfully, here, what I can't control is not that negative of outcomes that are happening. So, I think it's, it's very business friendly, it's very Bitcoin friendly, it's very human friendly, and we need to continue pushing that way forward and being there to solve answers. There's a lot of holes in the market, but there's people coming here and wanting to patch up that hole, and I think that's great.

Mike Peterson:

You know what they say about finding someplace perfect. Once you arrive, it won't be perfect. I'm curious to hear from you. Your explanation of how you feel like knowing where your food comes from, how that is fits with the Bitcoin ethos of self sovereignty, and what you're seeing as far as people start to question for the first time. Okay, what is the chain that has brought this food to me? What has been added to it? What am I putting into my body? Am I willing to pay a premium to make sure that I have something that I know has not gone through that process has not been injected with hormones, and so what have you seen? You know, as you've been running Beef Back Better, and and I'm just kind of curious, if you feel like people kind of grow into that, or what you're seeing in your customer base.

James:

Well, in my experience it seems, without putting my tin foil hat on too much, a little bit, but not too much, people are finally realizing that for probably at least 150 years, maybe even longer than that, they've used nutrition as a way to control a populace, so you can look at, like, I don't know, Kellogg's Corn Flakes, for example, or what Nixon did with, like, the price of eggs in 71 There's so many examples everywhere where they haven't, they've attempted to manipulate the food supply in order to essentially achieve more docile population, and what I've noticed over the last few years is that more and more people are waking up to that fact. They are no longer buying into these mainstream narratives, and there there's a million examples, whether it's people now pricing raw milk, for example, they understand that pasteurization is a bit of a sham

Will Lehr:

That hit me exactly maybe a month or two or three ago with some raw milk from the farmer's market,

James:

There you go,

Will Lehr:

That had passed its point of expiration and had gotten curdled, and I'm like, oh, and my buddy's Paul's like, no, that's younger, and we ate, and it was amazing,

James:

Yeah. Yeah, so I would say there's a lot of noticing going on, people are people waking up and they're realizing it's in every facet of their consumption, whether it's their exposure to led lights, whether it's the type of water that they're drinking, type of eggs, type of raw milk, type of beef, and you know, maybe I'm in a bubble as well, but all I've noticed that people is that people are paying more and more attention to these things than ever, and you love to see it. It's, it's heartening.

Ronny Avendano:

Well, the information is out there, and so I think, and that's where, like, something like even the Bitcoin Beach podcast, and it being out on YouTube, this is something that maybe would never have gone out into mainstream media, but information now is more readily available than ever before. So that's allowing people who are curious to actually go ahead and do their research and actually not trust but to verify.

Will Lehr:

You've got people doing the carnivore diet, documenting it on YouTube or whatever, and now you have this. I know people personally, Carolina, one of our friends, Mike Ward, one of our people that have been on the on the meat diet, and they, my wife and I've been doing for the last eight months, lost weight, lost the diabetes, I mean,

James:

There you go,

Mike Peterson:

So much better, lost a ton of weight, but more than that, just like my inflammation all went away, I was having like knee problems, back problems, I'm like, I feel like 20 years younger, my brain fog like went away, and, and same, same with my wife. I mean, she did, she never needed to lose weight, you never needed to lose weight, and, but she, like, just, just how she feels, everything, like she was always healthier than me, but she was the one that, that I was actually down at the Bitcoin conference in Paraguay, and she's like, "I'm gonna go on the carnivore diet. I was like,"What? She's like, "Yeah, I'm going on. I was like, "Okay, I guess I am too. You know, it's much more convenient if you're both on, and it's.. it's been shocking to me how, you know, there are some trade-offs, you know, maybe going out to eat isn't as much fun as it was before, but I just feel so much better, and so, yeah, it's been amazing.

James:

Yeah, and to answer the other part of your question, in terms of the premium, we do charge premium price, but sort of like I said, people noticing and people taking more of an interest in these things, they're not, they're not bothered by a premium, because health is wealth, exactly. I know it's a cliche for a reason, I know it's a corny thing to say, but Food is medicine, yeah, yeah, that, and I mean, El Salvador, sort of, this is obviously a big shout out to Jack Kruse, right, but the latitude that we're on the 13 degrees north, the light, the magnetism, and if we can couple that with a good diet, you're, you're going to live to 120 years old, potentially. Don't quote me,

Will Lehr:

I guarantee that.

James:

I know I won't, but others might.

Mike Peterson:

Well, I think, I think, too, when you are not just trying to survive in life, like you're not on the Fiat treadmill. You have more time to think about your health and to actually invest in these things, because you're not just trying to keep up with the latest gadgets and the nicest car, and this and that. You, you're kind of more like, okay, what is it that really matters to me? Yeah, and if you're not feeding your body good food, you're going to pay the consequences for it.

Will Lehr:

Yeah, Bitcoin is kind of an enlightening subject matter, right? Like, people that are drawn to Bitcoin, there's an enlightening, there's an evolution of humanity taking place here. If you can connect the dots and embrace Bitcoin and its philosophy. Same with clean organic food, right?

Ronny Avendano:

Sure,

Will Lehr:

And I think we're seeing that play out. I know we are, like naturally, a lot of my friends like people acquire Bitcoin, they've acquired wealth. Okay, now now I'm set. Well, I don't want to be sick and I can't enjoy my wealth and my freedom, so I got to get healthy, so natural. I see this progression where people attain their wealth, and then they become health nerds, straight up. A lot of our lot of our wealthy Bitcoin friends are like hardcore health nerds. God bless them, they're rubbing off on me in good ways. So

Ronny Avendano:

Everybody's walking around the farmers market barefoot, you know, no shirt, no shirts, jumping in the pool, going to the ocean. Yeah, we did a breathing session the other day, and, but I think one of the biggest value propositions is that you actually get to meet your producer, you actually get to meet the people who are creating the stuff, and you get to have that conversation, so now your food is not just something that you're kind of just doing because you're so used to it, but you have a relationship with the food now, and you have a relationship with that local vendor, so on that, on that topic of, yeah, there's a premium to pay, but you know that it's going towards someone that is in your, you know, third, three degrees of separation, four degree of separation at most, whereas these other places are just faceless corporations, and you go and you talk to someone at Super Selectos where'd this come from, and they. Have no idea, they don't even know what it is that they're looking at, right. And no offense to any, to any of those people, but there's, there's something to say when I can go and I can have my raw milk over at the farmers market, and I know who went out and did the teats that morning, right. And I, it's great when I can go and have coffee, and Cherito can tell me exactly who made you know where this coffee comes from, who picked it, when they picked it. It's great when the eggs that I'm buying, I know where the eggs were laid and that the chickens were taken care of, and you can just taste it in the quality of the food. I mean, there's a lady selling chickens and chicken eggs now, and everyone's just like, man, we've been needing this for so long, and so it's fantastic. And yes, there's a bit of a premium, but health is wealth. Like, let's be real, this is why we're here, because we are. We don't want the status quo. If we wanted the status quo, we'd still be where we're all from. And this is an opportunity for us to just to do something different, and some people may look at us like we're crazy. I mean, I'm sure 99% of the population does, but I don't really care. I feel fantastic, and I feel fantastic being able to go to the farmers market at a book, Cal, get some food, and talk to talk about Bitcoin with people, and try and solve whatever today's problem might be. And thankfully, one of the problems is not necessarily food, although I think all of us here are trying to do our best to make El Salvador and turn it into a more of a sovereign state, especially in terms of food, right? Like, we all want better quality food, we want better quality products, better quality services. These are some of the things that I think many people that are coming to El Salvador want to bring here, right, because there's such a, there's so much opportunity, so many things that the Salvadoran can learn from, because for the longest time, when, when places, when things were not safe here in El Salvador, the, like you said, the brain drain, it didn't make sense for anybody to invest their time in El Salvador, because there was no return on investment, your return on investment was a guy from the neighborhood are going to come and knock on your door and ask you for a 30% cut, just so you can continue staying in business, and that didn't make any sense.

Mike Peterson:

So you continue staying alive, correct?

Ronny Avendano:

And so now that that's gone, the Salvadoran population, for the first time, is understanding what a real free market is like, and what kind of services they can offer, and finally catching up to the rest of the world. We couldn't catch up to the rest of the world when all we were worrying about was how could we survive, how could we stay alive for tomorrow for our families, and that now it seems like overnight just has been completely eradicated, and so that allows us to do what we're doing, and that allows us, and that allows the Salvadoran population to grow as individuals, to grow as a nation. You know, GDP continues to grow, tourism is growing, everything's growing, and that means that the everyday Salvadoran is also growing, their knowledge base is growing, and I think that's a great thing. You know, foreigner Salvadorans coming together and really having a symbiotic relationship, I think that's the most important thing, is having a symbiotic relationship where we can teach the next generation, which is what I, why I do what I do, and that next generation can go on and just do whatever they think is, they think is best,

Mike Peterson:

Definitely. So, James, can people show up to the farmers market and get beef there,

James:

yeah.

Mike Peterson:

Can they have it delivered to their house, or what's what are the methods that?

James:

Yeah, so we've been doing delivery for, for pretty much since the inception of the business. We've changed things a little bit now, where we're still doing delivery, but only for like larger orders. Yeah, so I would say freezer if you, if you want to get a quarter, no problem.

Mike Peterson:

Okay,

James:

Yeah. There used to be a few problems, small orders, and then things go missing. It was just a logistical nightmare. Yeah, but a quarter cow, no problem. Quarter, half, hole, no problem. And then, if you want to get individual cuts from Bitcoin Farmer's Market every two weeks,

Will Lehr:

I think we do. We still sell them at Club Cocal, does Paul still do that on demand?

James:

Well, sure. Actually,

Will Lehr:

Well, call Paul if you're in the need and you can't wait till the next market. Paul might be able to hook you up at a next day.

James:

Yeah, I think that's still going up to you guys, and maybe

Mike Peterson:

What weren't you guys selling the soya too? Were they selling you guys product?

James:

Yeah, Dr. Luis, shout out, shout out to Dr. Louise.

Ronny Avendano:

Yeah, my neighbor

Mike Peterson:

is your neighbor, yeah, up

Ronny Avendano:

in La Gloria, Tamanique. Okay, yeah,

Mike Peterson:

My wife doesn't go and does weight training with him, he's like into everything, he's like

Ronny Avendano:

he is into a lot of stuff,

Mike Peterson:

He's got his restaurant, he's got the place up in Tamanique, he's got all the soya, he's a doctor,

James:

a Renaissance man,

Mike Peterson:

yeah,

Will Lehr:

Gardener too, pretty good at growing stuff,

Mike Peterson:

Yeah,

Ronny Avendano:

El Salvador is a small place, you know, that's why I think reputation is also so important,

Will Lehr:

Huge. Huge, huge,

Ronny Avendano:

you got to do things the right way, and that goes along with, you know, the low time preference, right? You, you make decisions for over a longer period of time, and that's one of the, that's one of the cool things about El Salvador.

Will Lehr:

Bitcoiners are the best clients to have, because, you know, developing property in a developing country, where a lot of the rules and regulations don't even exist or are being written as we speak. It's, you got to have some patience, you know. And Bitcoiners are the best clients, because, oh yeah, we're delayed, but we got this good, ah, it's great, man. More delays, the value just keeps going up.

Mike Peterson:

So, I would love to get your insight from on the real estate side. How is the, you know, El Salvador real estate has been booming, you know, some would say it's in a bubble, it's hard to say, but that, how is that clashing with being in a bear market for Bitcoin? Like, what is the, what are you seeing? Are people wanting to wait till they, you know, their Bitcoin can buy them more, or they.. what's.. what are you seeing in that market?

Will Lehr:

It depends on the investor. So, I have a lot of diversified investors into precious metals and Bitcoin. That's just.. yeah, I was.. I was a gold and silver guy before, before Bitcoin even came around. But when I learned about Bitcoin, I was like, oh my god, this is like gold, but better, you know. So, a lot of my client base, it's really interesting, right? The pure Bitcoiners, they're waiting, they're tapped, they're waiting. In fact, it's this interesting market dynamic, because I've got Bitcoin or clients who bought properties here with Bitcoin that will sell x y or z, and now those prices are coming down because they're relatively priced in Bitcoin.

Mike Peterson:

Yeah, so they just care about getting their Bitcoin back, or whatever Bitcoin exactly.

Will Lehr:

So you have that dynamic playing out, and then if you have a gold or a silver investor, and that asset just just went up for them, or whatever, and they see the price of this property go down because it's priced in Bitcoin, you can get win-wins, you know, playing out a lot, so it's a little bit of everything, but yeah, no, I mean, when Bitcoin starts running again and we enter a, you know, full-fledged bull market, it's, I mean, it'll be chaos down here, I'm sure we'll be.

Mike Peterson:

So, do you feel like prices are pretty flat right now, or do you feel like they're going down, or what do you, what do you?

Will Lehr:

Some, the only price is going down, or when you like high supply areas, like a new condo project that just released 30, or whatever, and large supply, or in the city, where you have a lot of more supply condos and whatnot. Otherwise, no, I mean, everything else is is trickling up at a pace faster than Bitcoin and gold and silver, the last three and a half years, in my experience. Anyway, I bought Club Cocal the beach property with Bitcoin and silver, and it has outpaced both of them dramatically, dramatically. And we've built a community and a business and everything else off of that that I couldn't have done off my Bitcoin. I can't surf on my Bitcoin. My Bitcoin doesn't give me coconuts and mangoes, just saying there's ROI here, and there's peace of mind, and health

James:

ability,

Will Lehr:

Lots of other things. So, and you know, you get a Bitcoin bear market, and your property value keeps going, like you're, you know, so yeah, it's it's an interesting market dynamic, and for the people who, who would say that property here is in a, is in a bubble. El Salvador real estate, starting with El Zonte, and then trickling out to the rest of the country, is backed by Bitcoin. So, this land has a Bitcoin floor underneath it. If Bitcoin goes, as long as Bitcoin doesn't go to zero, if Bitcoin maintains its pace continuing, it's going to be a world global asset class, as I believe, and we all believe it will. This land will never go down in value, it will continue to go up in perpetuity with Bitcoin, I believe, because I've already witnessed it has a Bitcoin floor. Bitcoin starts pumping, you're going to see this just, and it's very limited here. In three and a half years, I've watched the market change in like three phases already, from from at least Surf City Core, from beachfront to the mountain Ganges, and properties that are now all gobbled up, to now it's lots and condos, almost, and there's still a couple, you know, but it's, it's thinning, markets changing super fast, so it's, it feels to me like a, like a manifest destiny, like a California gold rush in the land, right? And it is, it's a go west, young man, find freedom, stake your flag. I mean, we're living that right now. There's bitcoin in these hills.

Mike Peterson:

Yeah, I was telling somebody, I'm like, I literally think that property in El Zonte is the most expensive in the whole country.

James:

Is it really?

Will Lehr:

Oh, hands down. Yeah. Oh, hands down.

Mike Peterson:

More than anywhere in the capital city, hands down,

Will Lehr:

More than Cote to Peck a hands square foot,

Ronny Avendano:

like on a square foot basis. I think so.

Will Lehr:

Beachfront got numbers that are absurd that developers are considered. Yeah, it's insane.

Ronny Avendano:

And every day there's someone coming into. The store, and just saying that they're here looking for some property to buy, and like you said, you know, people, maybe someone bought a property for what was two Bitcoin, you know, a year back, let's just say one Bitcoin a year back at 126 and if they want to sell now they're getting two Bitcoin back, like you made a property, you made an investment, if you're a Bitcoiner and you run on a Bitcoin standard, you made an investment of one Bitcoin, and now you're going to get two back. Yeah, the dollar value might not be the same, but if you're in that bearish, if you're in that bullish side of Bitcoin, and you think it's going to go up eternally. And thankfully, we now, we have, you know, DeFi and different tools that we can use, so that we can take out a loan on our Bitcoin, if we want to. If you think there's this huge potential upside, which I do. There's,

Mike Peterson:

Not financial advice,

Ronny Avendano:

Not financial advice. Let me tell you that always keep self custody of it. But there's lots of different tools that you can use to leverage what's happening here, so that you don't miss out on the boat. Because I, in the five years that I've been here, Mike, I've seen it, I've seen this place just absolutely explode, and I don't see it stopping anytime soon. Like right now. What's going on down from from Club Cocal to El Zonte? I don't know if you guys have seen, but they're cutting down all the trees now. This highway is about to go four lanes, yeah. And so, what does that mean? That's going to bring in more people. It's this is going to go off the charts. There's nothing, nothing stopping this tree right now.

Mike Peterson:

Glad my kids are done with high school and not having to commute, make that commute, because it's gonna be, it's gonna be a nightmare while they're doing it. I mean, blowing pains, though, right? Yeah, no, it's a good thing, it's a good thing to see, but it will be a nightmare while

Will Lehr:

They get those drone taxis to market faster and cheaper, right?

Mike Peterson:

So, what are you guys excited about for the market, like from when it started three years ago to where it's at now, has it basically kept the same format and the same feeling, or have you seen it gone through iterations, or I'm just kind of curious as to what you guys see going forward.

James:

Yeah, well, I've never changed the format. I've pretty

much only ever had three rules:

you have to accept Bitcoin. You have to respect the property, and you have to respect your fellow vendors. That's about it. So, I would just like to see it grow. We generally average about 25 to 30 vendors, sometimes more, sometimes less. Sometimes it's 150 people, sometimes it's 400 people. Really, depends.

Mike Peterson:

Is it less in the rainy season, is that impact?

James:

Yeah, this is the first time that we're going through the rainy season in Cocal, so that's yet to be,

Will Lehr:

But it never been never rains down here at the beach anyway.

James:

Yeah, well, that's

Mike Peterson:

But there's less people during this time, correct? That's it. Yeah,

Will Lehr:

Yeah, I get people on the phone, they're like, "Oh, so it's.. I Googled it, and it tells not to come during rainy season, like, that's my favorite time. Yeah, listen to Google, it's my favorite, yeah, it's gorgeous, yeah.

Ronny Avendano:

Even though the market, you know, James said he's never changed the way that the market flows, but you start noticing that even when it's slow season, you know, the community still gets together because it's our, it's our once, you know, twice a month to get together, because you get people coming in from Berlin, from San Salvador, from Santa Ana, from El Zonte, from Cocal. We all get together and get, you know, this is our central kind of meeting point. And so Cocal, even now with the new traffic that's going to be coming in, Cocal is a perfect spot, it's like right in the middle, you have from from that circle, from that roundabout all the way to El Zonte, like it's Bitcoin heavy, you can go in there and you can almost spend Bitcoin, I would say at every location across the coast, from the farmers market all the way down through El Zonte, so even though it's slow season, we still have a lot of people, and you know, we've been talking to James about wanting to grow the Bitcoin education, do something in San Salvador, do a little bit of a traveling farmer's market while still maintaining a core space down here on the beach. We want to make sure that people know that they can come down here to the beach and know where everything started. This is the Mecca. This is where any Bitcoiner can come down here and spend their Bitcoin and meet other Bitcoiners, but we want to expand this idea and this movement, and we want to be able to expand it to San Salvador, where there are a lot of Salvador and Bitcoiners, they just don't have anywhere to go, to Santa Ana, to Berlin, where there are a lot of Bitcoiners, you know, I get them coming into the store all the time, and, like, I don't know you, I've never seen you, but you live here, and you've been in Bitcoin for how long? Where have you been? And it's like, I'm just like in four hours away, and I just stay in my little circle. So, there are Bitcoiners all over the country, they just don't necessarily come down here all the time.

Will Lehr:

Do we also have the opportunity to, you know, I'm partial to Dominique, I love that little pueblo, and there's not a lot of Bitcoiners up there. Well, there's some, mostly the gringos hiding in the woods, like our friend John, but, but you could take the market to a town like that, and what does that do? That just invigorates the entire town. Whoa, what is this Bitcoin? What are these people coming here and doing all this Bitcoin activity? Whoa, maybe we should accept this Bitcoin, you know.

James:

It's a nice mix of like, like economic prosperity, and you know, we're social creatures as human beings, right? So it's a nice crossover there. And to your question, Mike, maybe it's a little lofty or utopic, I don't know, but I did write a little white paper about it, just what I learned from starting it. It's on GitHub, anyone can look it up. It's on our Twitter.

Mike Peterson:

Let's make sure we put that in the show notes, a link to that,

James:

So if anyone watching this is wants to set that up wherever they might be in the world. This is basically like a three page document of just these are all the mistakes I made. Don't, don't do this, do that, don't do this.

Mike Peterson:

What was the biggest mistake you made?

James:

Um, not having functioning toilets.

Mike Peterson:

Yes, yeah,

James:

Kind of important.

Mike Peterson:

Yeah, you don't really think about that until everybody's there, like exactly.

James:

That's what I mean. It's very rudimentary. There's nothing like revelatory there.

Will Lehr:

We have a brand new septic system at Club Cocal. Yeah, by the way,

James:

That's wonderful. But yeah. I would hope that if you are a passionate Bitcoiner, and maybe in your town, wherever you might be in the world, and you want to do your own one, at least you have a couple of pages there where that can at least give you a very, very basic roadmap, because ultimately, in my opinion, Bitcoin is money, it's not digital gold, it's money. Yeah, and I want to see as much trade happening, permissionless trade happening as possible. Yeah, that's what I would ultimately like to see. That's my little, little culture, little contribution to the Bitcoin ecosystem.

Mike Peterson:

Awesome. Anything else you guys want to discuss before we wrap up.

Will Lehr:

I'll shamelessly plug, we do need a rancher, we need a Bitcoiner who wants to be a cowboy. We're launching a whole cattle industry here with genetics from Texas with real cowboys like this guy, not me. But anyway, yeah, we're we need, we need like-minded Bitcoiners that want to help us with the ranch expansion here, so the government's all in. We just need it's time to get the private, the private ranches rocked.

James:

So, we have, we have Beef Back Better, but we want to expand that aggressively outside of Beef Back Better and really build out the beef industry here, and to that note, as well, anyone considering coming, coming in November for Bitcoin Historico, if you like rodeos, I will tease that a little bit. We're going to put on a rodeo, get into a rodeo. Yeah, we're going to do a rodeo.

Mike Peterson:

I just had some friends here last week that were like, where can we go to a rodeo, they were like, have them here, but

Ronny Avendano:

Well, those are some of the.. that's some of the culture that, like, we need to put out there for the because there is a rodeo culture in El Salvador, there is..

James:

There is.. there's not prizes in Bitcoin for bull riding, but there will.. you go

Ronny Avendano:

There, you go..

Mike Peterson:

So, so you're gonna have any like amateur riding abilities where

James:

It's gonna be. Let's just say there will have to be a lot of waivers. Don't give them too many ideas. People get involved with poker. Cowboy poker is good. We need as many living Bitcoiners. Cowboy poker, that'll be interesting. Yeah, we are, we're gonna announce properly next week, so I'm just teasing that a little bit, but yeah, it'll be a really good time to come to El Salvador. I would say, I mean, Bitcoin month has always been November, right? Yep, but now there's a rodeo happening as well, that'll be fun.

Mike Peterson:

And do you have a location already,

James:

Yeah. Is that a secret, or no? No, on Lake, it's actually going to be on the lake, on Ilopango Lake.

Mike Peterson:

Okay,

James:

So we're going to be pretty much right on the lake. It'll be a nice view, and a lot of shenanigans, little cowboy shenanigans.

Ronny Avendano:

A different part of El Salvador, I think people can explore, because the lake doesn't get enough. Lake doesn't get enough love, and it's a beautiful place,

James:

Very close to the city. Yeah, it's gorgeous. Yeah,

Will Lehr:

A lot of gems in this country, a lot of hidden gems.

James:

Watch this space.

Mike Peterson:

I love that. I love that.

Ronny Avendano:

Well, I guess for me, yeah, for me, just continuing to push hyper Bitcoinization out here in El Salvador, you know, we need people who want to build and who want, who are fed up with the status quo, and so anyone who's fed up with the status quo and wants to actually verify and wants to, you know, be a part of this, run their own node, and not just listen to what's happening in the media. I invite them to come down here, the Bitcoin hardware store. We're always here to help out the community, help out the people. We want to be a, we want to be that support that base and that foundation, because if you have a strong base, you have a strong foundation. Then anything you do from that point forward is is typically going to be going in the right direction, and it's going to be strong. So, you know, for me, just continuing to grow the hardware store, continuing to grow Bitcoin education, Bitcoin knowledge, Bitcoin confidence, and so anybody who's in. Sit in Bitcoin, and anyone who's interested in El Salvador, we invite them down, come down to the market, come down to the hardware store, come down to Bitcoin Beach, and experience everything, because this is just the beginning, where we just had the first set of weight, you know, that first wave set, you know, sets usually come in three, so this is year number three, that sets over, and now with November, Bitcoin Historical will be there as well. I think that next three set wave is coming, and I invite everybody to come down and come experience it for themselves.

Mike Peterson:

Perfect. Well, I want to make sure people know how they can get a hold of you guys if they're interested in new real estate or beef or Bitcoin hardware. So, why don't you? We'll put it in the show notes too, but why don't you just real quick, where they can follow you on on X or anywhere else,

Will Lehr:

Club Cocal, Club Cocal.com we're Club Co Call on all the socials, so yeah, and

Mike Peterson:

that's C O C A L

Will Lehr:

C O C A L means Coconut Grove,

James:

Nice, there you go, yeah. For Bitcoin Farmers Market Beef Back Better, it's X and Nostr. You can look up both of them, they're on there. Yeah, that would be pretty much it.

Ronny Avendano:

For me, Bitcoin Hardware Store, or TB hs.sv since we are here in El Salvador. This is where we were founded. We do have plans to grow internationally and nationally as well. So, look out for us if you need any help with Bitcoin, if you need any help with self-custody, inheritance planning, any type of Bitcoin, asset recovery, any help that you need with Bitcoin. You know, again, not to toot my own horn, but 100 on-chain transactions. I'm pretty proud of that. We use Bitcoin here as money. It's the only thing that I know. It's the only real money that I know, and a node is the only, the only truth that I know. And so we, you know, my whole goal is to continue spreading that message. So, if you are a Bitcoin, or you need any help with Bitcoin, or you want help convincing your family why Bitcoin is the greatest asset on earth. Give us a shout. I'm here to answer any of your questions.

James:

And if I may, I'm sorry.

Mike Peterson:

Yeah,

James:

Can I just give a shout out to our sponsors from the market, everyone from Will for hosting us. Super generous of him. Blink, shout, big shout out to Blink. They played a huge role one day in general. They were the first sponsor we ever had. Schelling Point, Charlie, as well. So, Charlie helped me start the farmers market three years ago. I believe he's still overseas at the moment, but big shout out to Charlie, Ronnie. Thank you, as well. I mean, it wouldn't be the Bitcoin farmers market if you couldn't buy Bitcoin. So, you know, it's just, just awesome. And, of course, you know, Bit Driver and Bitcoin Coast, Bit driver, if you guys are thinking about visiting in November, hit up Bit Driver, he's the man, and all the hard work that Jamie and Charlie and Xavi stuff do, and in Bitcoin Coast. So, yeah, shout out to all our sponsors, and thank you for having us, Mike. Yeah, great conversation, really appreciate it.

Mike Peterson:

I love that you guys willing to come on, so

Ronny Avendano:

Thanks a lot,

Mike Peterson:

Awesome. So, make sure you get down to El Salvador and get to the Bitcoin market every two weeks on Saturdays, right?

James:

Yeah,

Mike Peterson:

Yeah. Is it like the second Saturday and fourth, or what's the.. yeah,

James:

It's,

Ronny Avendano:

every second Saturday, every second. We just don't change.

James:

Sometimes you have five Saturdays. Yeah, we just do it. Okay, yeah, don't forget the Bitcoin Bazaar here in El Zonte as well, right? That's that happens as well. Like, let the stats float. Yeah, Bitcoin is money. We want to support as many people as possible,

Will Lehr:

stack it and spend it.

James:

Yeah,

Mike Peterson:

Awesome. All right, thanks guys. Thank you.