Bitcoiners - Live From Bitcoin Beach

Behind The World's First Bitcoin Air Taxi Network in El Salvador

• Mike Peterson

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Explore how James McBride (@cnasalvador) is building El Salvador’s sovereign aviation infrastructure. From ferrying a helicopter 3,000 miles to launching the first Bitcoin-friendly air taxi, learn how Cielo Norte Aviacion is decentralizing the skies and skipping fiat traffic jams.

National sovereignty depends on more than just a digital currency because citizens remain limited by crumbling fiat infrastructure and exhausting traffic jams. In this episode, James McBride argues that freedom requires the physical infrastructure to move as fast as Bitcoin. By launching Cielo Norte Aviacion, James is betting that the future of the Salvadoran Citadel depends on decentralizing the skies to allow for a level of mobility that was previously impossible in Central America.

The journey to establish this vision involved a literal trial by fire that started with a grueling international flight from Northern Ontario. James recounts the logistics of ferrying a helicopter 3,000 miles across borders while navigating the shifting regulations of multiple countries and searching for jet fuel in remote regions. This story of grit and proof of work highlights the massive physical effort required to build a new business in the Bitcoin nation and describes the immense relief he felt when the aircraft finally touched down on Salvadoran soil.

As James reaches the finish line of his AAC certification, he is preparing to launch a high speed air taxi service that changes the last mile logistics of El Salvador. His fleet offers private charters that reach world class surf breaks like Punta Mango in under thirty minutes so that travelers can bypass the nightmare traffic of San Salvador. This initiative creates a functional network that connects the most remote and beautiful locations in the country to the economic heart of the city.

The business expansion includes a clear roadmap for industrial and government support alongside tourism. By utilizing aerial surveying and Lidar technology, Cielo Norte facilitates mining operations and infrastructure planning with a level of precision and speed that drones cannot match. This technical edge and the future addition of fixed-wing aircraft for cargo position the company to become the backbone of Salvadoran industry and a critical pillar of the economic rebirth of the country.

James also shares a behind the scenes look at his private meeting with President Bukele where he pitched the vision of making El Salvador the aviation hub of Latin America. This comprehensive family approach spanning from Bitcoin exchanges to the skies reflects a unique moment in history where entrepreneurs are actively building the world they want to live in. Whether you are a pilot interested in technical flight rules or a Bitcoiner looking for the next frontier of growth, this episode demonstrates that the sky is no longer the limit in El Salvador.

—Bitcoin Beach Team



Connect and Learn more about James McBride
X (Company): https://x.com/cnasalvador
Web: https://www.cielonorteaviacion.com/
IG: https://www.instagram.com/cielonorteaviacion/
WhatsApp (Business Line): +503 7745 8200

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Browse through this quick guide to learn more about the episode:
00:00 Intro
01:13 Why the McBride family moved their business to El Salvador
02:48 Scaling a Canadian mining airline into a Salvadoran charter
04:12 Flying a helicopter 3,000 miles from Canada to El Salvador
06:15 How air taxis solve the San Salvador traffic nightmare
11:51 Navigating 10,000-foot mountain ranges under VFR rules
13:38 Why El Salvador’s geography is perfect for helicopters
16:02 Using Lidar aerial surveying for mining and

Live From Bitcoin Beach

James McBride:

And then when we saw that coastline, it was like, because now it means we can follow the whole beach all the way to El Salvador. And then the one thing I'll I'll emphasize, is is once we cross that border out of out of Mexico. And I mean, we didn't touch down in Guatemala, but when we crossed that border in El Salvador, like all the anxiety went away. We like, I felt so like, back home safe. I didn't care what happened. Like, we're in the right country. So that was, you know, like, really special to come back here and just just feel like, that sense of just relief that we're done with the whole trip behind us. Absolutely. We're going to be bringing many more helicopters down, and we're going to get into the fixed wing side of stuff. We'll be doing cargo. We, like, really intended to grow the aviation community in El Salvador and Make El Salvador the aviation hub of Latin America.

Mike Peterson:

Got another one of the McBrides with us now, so this will be the third from the McBride family that we've had on the podcast. So welcome Jamie,

James McBride:

Yeah, thank you very much.

Mike Peterson:

Yeah, I'm excited to have you here. I got to know your dad over the last few years, and so that's been kind of fun now, seeing the family come down and getting involved in El Salvador. I won't go too much in the history, because we will have recently done the one with your brother and given kind of the family history with that. But your guys, your guys family, is one of those ones that didn't just dip their toe in El Salvador like you guys are all in multiple businesses across multiple dimensions. We're speaking with your brother about SatStreet, you know, which is a Bitcoin exchange, but you are involved with something very different, which is a, how would you describe it? I'll let you introduce the company and how you describe it, because I don't know how many dimensions you guys are going into.

James McBride:

Sure. Yeah. So it's the company. Name is Cielo, Norte Aviacion, or CNA for short. We are a helicopter operator now in El Salvador. We started the process just over a year ago with the AAC. So it's we'll be doing private charters, air tourism, air taxi, with our first helicopter in the country, and it's a subsidiary of our Canadian company True North airways, which has been around for about five years up in Canada. So up there, we've done mining operations,

Mike Peterson:

transporting mining worker back and forth

James McBride:

Exactly, yeah, so I mean, like, I'm sure John and George have gotten into it, but we have a big mining operation up in northern Ontario, and we actually bought True North airways to become our own customer, because we were using other airlines previously, and so it was cheaper, better to use our own airplanes. And then we grew that into a private charter operation, and then we got government contracts, and then we got helicopters. We did firefighting, emergency services, we've done everything. And then the more sexy side of it would be the private charter, the private jets in and out of, you know, Canada, US internationally. And, yeah, so, I mean, we grew a company from just four aircraft making$500,000 a year to over 14 aircraft doing $10 million in revenue to the state. And recently, we brought down our first helicopter into El Salvador, and we started our Salvador and sub subsidiary, CNA. So yeah, we'll be doing private charter air tours and air taxi very, very shortly. Like I said, we started over a year ago, and our certification is just at the finish line, so hoping, mid February, will be signed off and ready to take customers.

Mike Peterson:

Awesome. Now, when you say you brought a helicopter down here. It's not quite that, that easy or straightforward. So I want to hear a little bit about your trip, which I believe started in Ontario. Where did you start from?

James McBride:

Yep, Sudbury, Ontario, which is about four hours north of Toronto.

Mike Peterson:

Okay,

James McBride:

Yeah. So we started the that's where the helicopter was based originally, and we decided on this helicopter to bring it down to El Salvador. I flew it with another pilot through down through Toronto, across the US, through Mexico, over Guatemala, and into El Salvador.

Mike Peterson:

So how many stops does that involve? Like, how far can a helicopter go on one tank of fuel, and then did it get dicey at all, like going through Mexico, like trying to make sure that you could make it to the next landing spot? And I don't know how like formalized that is, so I would just be curious, on a personal level, just to hear, like, know about that trip and how long it took, and just some of the details.

James McBride:

Yeah, well, it's not the first time I've done a trip like this. I did it also last year, and I used to have a small, single engine, Cessna, okay, a Cessna 180 a tail dragger. In the summer, we'd fly it on seaplane, on the floats, and then in the winter, we'd change it over to wheels. So during the winter, I flew it down and back up again before I sold it. But helicopters,

Mike Peterson:

I'm assuming that has a little bit more range than,

James McBride:

Definitely more range. It's a little faster. You can fly higher, you can clear certain terrains a little easier. But you know, it also has its own challenges, being a tail dragger, so you're limited by certain cross.

Mike Peterson:

What does tail dragger mean? What is

James McBride:

Sorry, yeah, not an aviation crowd maybe tail dragger means the wheels on the tail instead of the nose. So if you can think like if you're towing a trailer and you have too much weight on the back her front, I can't remember, but it you can do, like the fish tail, kind

Mike Peterson:

Oh, yeah.

James McBride:

Center gravity,

Mike Peterson:

You want it on the if you have too much on the

James McBride:

the center of gravity is behind the main main front that, yeah, exactly No. I'm sorry back, yeah, because if you have too much on the back, then you have, yeah, gear, so it always wants to spin around on you. So it's kind of a dance, but anyways, yeah, we did that, or I did that twice before, and then with the helicopter, it's an even bigger trip because they're a little slower. The range is a little less. So first off, the range is about three and a half hours of fuel,

Mike Peterson:

okay,

James McBride:

with about, you know, 30 minutes reserve, and at 90 knots, that gets you almost 300 miles, or however many miles it is, works out at 90 knots, depends on the winds. So we did 18 stops in total. I think, can't remember how many are in the US, but the US is super easy, because there's an airport every probably 10 miles, realistically, and you can just land, yeah, and they're not always towered. They're uncontrolled. It's a lot of passionate aviators that just, you know, want to have their own airport and welcome pilots, and they've got jet fuel and aviation fuel. So it's an awesome community in the US.

Mike Peterson:

Hey guys. You know, we don't do commercials here at the Bitcoin Beach podcast because we want to keep it focused on what's happening here in El Salvador. But we have something special that we're promoting right now because we have the stay at Bitcoin Beach project that's just been launched. We've always wanted to make sure that when Bitcoiners come to El Salvador, they have a truly Bitcoin through and through experience in their accommodations, in being able to stay at a place that mostly has other Bitcoiners. And so we came up with this idea, and I actually found my buddy Peter here to take the bull by the horns and make it happen. So Peter, tell us what you got cooking for us.

Peter:

Thanks, Mike. Stay at Bitcoin beach dot com. This is the website and the brand that we started that it will host a growing number of Premier properties that we have, both in the Punta Mango area and here in El Zonte. The first is Punta Mango villas, which was the original place that Mike, you and I bought 16 years ago, and it's been newly remodeled, six villas got a bar on the cantina. The full restaurant. Casa Agua Fria is a small little cabin in the same area, and it sits right on the Agua Fria Beach, a little bit more intimate. It's great for families that want to go out and kind of get away. And then here in El Zonte, there's three properties. First, it's Citi Del Mar which Mike you put your heart and soul into. We're sitting here now in the podcast studio that has two main houses overlooking the break of El Zonte. Beautiful infinity pool. Gym just got a first class place to stay, and then a new condo that just got released in the Barefoot project that's on the other side of the river, fifth story, overlooking the ocean. Again, beautiful, two bedroom. And then seven suites that we're opening up called Bitcoin Beach suites that is really close to where a lot of the Bitcoin Beach story started. So when you come, you can use Bitcoin to book your stay right on the website. You also can use it for transportation, for food, for all the services that we continue to add to to the business. So we'd love to have you please go to Stay at Bitcoin Beach dot com. You'll see pictures, you'll see all the different descriptions and information of the properties, and you can hit us up, either on our web page or on Instagram, and we'll get back to you. We'd love to have you out, please come to Stay at Bitcoin Beach.

James McBride:

So that part was actually very easy to get through. And obviously, being Canadian, the whole customs process was not, not too much, other than when they asked where we're heading, and I say, El Salvador, they kind of go, what are you doing down there? And, you know, they start taking things apart, and they're looking at things like, you know, it's. It's kind of crazy that they don't know, but yeah,

Mike Peterson:

tell them if you were smuggling drugs, you'd be going,

James McBride:

I'd be going the other direction, exactly right. Like, you make that joke, but they don't like it. But, yeah,

Mike Peterson:

I worried you're bringing cash back down.

James McBride:

Yeah, exactly, yeah. Or Bitcoin, but no. So the, the only, like, there was nothing dicey ever but, but Mexico was, was a challenge. I would say, when you come in, they, they're always looking for something, something to charge you on, as I'm sure we all sort of, you know, know, and expect,

Mike Peterson:

yeah,

James McBride:

and then,

Mike Peterson:

like, on the official side, like, Hey, you didn't get this thing, and there's a fine or more like, oh, you need this,

James McBride:

oh, a bit of everything. They made us buy Mexican insurance when we got there, even though our insurance plan covered Mexico, and they'll basically ground you until you tell you pay to continue. But, yeah, we try to do Mexico in one day, if possible, just to really, if possible. Yeah, I did it twice with my with my my other plane, in one day, because I want to get in and out as quickly as possible, but in the helicopter, because it's slower and you're limited by like, altitude and certain things. We ended up spending two days in Mexico. I think it was so.

Mike Peterson:

Just spend the night at one of the airports along the way.

James McBride:

Yeah, I was Tampico, then Veracruz. We did Veracruz for one night, just because the weather, and then we went to Tuxtla. I don't want to say the rest of the name, because it's hard to say it's Gutierrez or something, is that right? And then at Tuxtla, that's where the 10,000 foot mountain range is, and that's the biggest challenge. So on the first or the second day. Rather, we tried to get over the mountain, but the cloud layer was just right at the peak, so by the time we got up, we went, Oh, can't make it over. Gotta turn around, go back.

Mike Peterson:

So you can't fly through clouds on a helicopter.

James McBride:

You can, but you have to, it has to be instrument rated, because you lose all your references. You're just in a gray cloud, you have no idea what's up or down, and you can't listen to your body because it thinks it's like this, or, you know, you gotta rely on your instruments. But for this trip, we're not going to mess around with with that sort of stuff. We keep it to what's called VFR, which is visual flight rules. So yeah, we got to the top of the mountain, there was clouds. Wasn't safe to pass through, so we turned around, went back to Tuxtla. At this point, it was later in the day, so we had to spend the night. Tried again in the morning, same thing, clouds at the top, came back, got fuel, and then we said, All right, let's find a new pathway through these mountains. And then we kind of figured a new route. We had to go a little bit back north, kind of towards the US and Canada, which is the wrong way. But we found a nice little valley that was much lower, about 4000 feet, and kind of made our way through there. And then, when we saw that coastline, it was like because now it means we can follow the whole beach, all the way to El Salvador. And then the one thing I'll emphasize is, is once we cross that border, out of out of Mexico, and I mean, we didn't touch down in Guatemala, it's only about 80 miles that we had to cross, so it wasn't too much. But once we crossed into

Mike Peterson:

only 80 miles that you cross between,

James McBride:

between Mexico and El Salvador, it might be something like that. Yeah, because we didn't have to refuel again, I might be, might be remembering that wrong, but it was, it was short enough where we didn't have to refuel again. We just had to go right to El Salvador. But when we crossed that border in El Salvador, like, all the anxiety went away. We, like, I felt so, like, back home safe, I didn't care what happened. Like, we're in the right country, so that was, you know, like, really special to come back here and just just feel like, that sense of just relief that we're done with the whole trip behind us. So,

Mike Peterson:

So I'm curious, in El Salvador. How many spots are there where you can land to refuel? Are there like dozens? Or is it just like a handful? Or what's the

James McBride:

refueling I'm only aware of Comalapa, which is the main international and Ilopango, which is the more private international airport. We can arrange fuel trucks to meet anywhere we need to go, but right now, if like for designated fuel spots, I believe those are the only two that offer. Are offered jet fuel.

Mike Peterson:

Okay,

James McBride:

there might be others.

Mike Peterson:

What do you need for a helicopter is that jet fuel.

James McBride:

Depends on the helicopter. Ours is a jet engine. So, yeah, it's, it'll be jet fuel, yeah. But there's, you know, lots of landing spots, because everyone loves soccer or football here. So there's lots of fields that are available the beach or open fields and stuff. So it's this country is designed for helicopters, because we can go

Mike Peterson:

well, so small too, well exactly anywhere,

James McBride:

because we're based at Salamanca, and that's pretty much the heart of the country. It's a little bit off to the west, but let's say Salamanca to the Honduras border is about 55 minutes tops. Everything else is usually 20 minutes away.

Mike Peterson:

Yeah.

James McBride:

Al Zonte from Salamanca is like eight minutes.

Mike Peterson:

Oh, really, that was so quick.

James McBride:

Yeah, most places are not, you know, you're not

Mike Peterson:

Yeah.

James McBride:

So, yeah, it's, it's like, designed for going to the border, helicopters. It's perfect, because you can land wherever you want. It's all quick. It's all close. So yeah.

Mike Peterson:

And what about within San Salvador? There are very many, like, landing pads on, like, tops of buildings or other things, or, if you guys,

James McBride:

There's a couple that are being worked on right now, the infrastructure is growing, which is awesome to see. Probably pretty soon, in the next, I'd say, a couple months, there'll be a lot of options in the actual city. Originally, they had it more restricted just because of, you know, there's a lot of people, it's a more high risk area, but, but it's, it's because the infrastructure is being built. It's becoming more available. There's landing pads on certain, you know, soccer fields, and if you request permission, they'll usually grant it. They're very, very helpful. I find actually, like, the AAC is being incredible, like they're they're so welcoming, they want to help, and they want to see us grow. And they're just, they're just amazing. So,

Mike Peterson:

Awesome.

James McBride:

Yeah,

Mike Peterson:

That's great to hear. So what do you see is, like, the biggest, like, potential market in El Salvador. Who do you think your clients are? Will you guys expand to additional aircraft, to fix wing like, what is? I'm just kind of curious as to what your guys roadmap is.

James McBride:

Yeah, it's a good question. I mean, initially we weren't really sure what the what the market might look like, and now we're we've been getting taxed almost every day. Hey, can we use you? Hey, can we use you? And unfortunately, right now we can't, because we're not certified,

Mike Peterson:

Yeah,

James McBride:

But once that certification is complete, we'll be able to start doing that. But right now it's being mainly people who want to go to Punta Mango, they want to go to El Zonte or El Tunco or they want to tour the volcanoes or the city, like there's, there's so many tourism side of things. But we'll also be able to facilitate the government with their mining operations, because we have the ability to do geo surveying with Lidar and whatever technology that they need, like we can equip our helicopters with it, get it done way faster than any drone can ever do, and for longer periods of time, we can carry more weight. So there's, there's a big market for that. And then your second question, is there more aircraft coming down? Absolutely, we're going to be bringing many more helicopters down, and we're going to get into the fixed wing side of stuff. We'll be doing cargo. We like, really intended to grow the aviation community in El Salvador and make El Salvador the aviation hub of Latin America.

Mike Peterson:

I love that. I love that. I know, I know you guys have brought, you know, you know, shuttling friends and stuff around and and you guys are going to be bringing Max down to our place in Punta Mango here. Yeah, tomorrow, right, yeah,

James McBride:

Yeah, exactly.

Mike Peterson:

Tomorrow. And he's going to make us some fresh coco maxes. I can't wait down there. So, yeah, yeah.

James McBride:

I mean, we spent a lot of time flying around the country and exploring new spots, and, you know, like helping guys like you out when you need it, and take advantage of us while we're free right now, because we can't charge. But it's been so awesome, and I'm being really grateful to do it all so.

Mike Peterson:

Well, I'm going to be honest with you, I have never been up in a helicopter before.

James McBride:

Really,

Mike Peterson:

I've been, you know, I've been skydiving. I've done, you know, I've been up in a one of those Para, you know, the Parasail thing that are wind powered. I've been but I have not dressed up because,

James McBride:

I wouldn't do that. I'm worried.

Mike Peterson:

Oh, that freaked me out. We're in Colombia when we did that. And not, not to get too far off into a side story, but we got there, and we go to this site, and you're like, connected to something. They call them the pilot, but it's just somebody controlling the strings. There's no engine, no anything. It's just these sails, and they use the updraft in certain areas to go and so we're a couple hours outside of Medellin. Our kids are with us. They're, I think of their time. They were in their early teens, and we like, soon as they get out of the car, we don't have time to think. They're like, Here, put these bracelets on. And we're like, what is this? They're like, that's showing that we've paid for insurance for you in case we crash. The hospital will accept you. I was like, wait, what? And then they're like, Okay, you guys run and you just run and jump off this thing with this. I swear the kid was like, 12. That was, like, my pilot,

James McBride:

Yeah,

Mike Peterson:

And then my wife and I were both up in the air at the same time, because I had two of them. And, you know, they're just young kids. They're having fun, they're we're getting close to each other. And I'm thinking, if we hit we're gonna tangle up, we're gonna crash our ground. My kids are gonna be stranded in the middle of Columbia, yeah, so I don't think I would do that again. That was and you'd hit these air pockets and, oh yeah. And I felt like I was gonna throw up. It was fun to do once, but yeah,

James McBride:

Very brave, yeah. I mean, same with me with with skydiving. My first job as a pilot was a skydive pilot, thick swing side of stuff as well. And I would do the same, you know, 10 jumps a day for over six months, just up to 10,000 feet every day. And I'd watch them get out, and at the end, they offered me a jump. And I was like, maybe. And okay, I'll do it. So I got my sister with me, Charlotte. So yeah, me and Charlotte went up together, and at this point, like, I'm like, Wait, this is totally. Really different. I'm used to sitting and now I'm like, strapped to some guy they don't know, or, actually, I do know him, but strapped to some guy and and, and you're getting up there, and the door opens, and I'm like, I've never thought about getting out of this, this door. And when you step off, it's like, like, Oh my gosh. And the feeling you have in your stomach and but all the fear goes away. And I know everyone says this when they go skydiving, but all the fear goes away the moment you're out. You're just loving every second of it.

Mike Peterson:

The worst part, at least when I went, the worst part is, and we went in a tiny plane, this was in Brazil that we did it and, and, you know, I'm sitting on this guy's lap that probably weighs half as much as me. So it's, like, all awkward, because they got, you, like, strapped in together, and then the door was, like, I don't know, like, this big, and we both got to try to get out of it together. And so that was the the hardest thing get. Once you're out in the air. It's a blast. But yeah, trying to get out the door of the plane that was freaky.

James McBride:

Yeah, it's in, it's a long ride up, too. And you're just kind of like, what am I doing here? Should I do it? And so, yeah,

Mike Peterson:

But one of these days I'm gonna have to get up in the helicopter. Oh, please, yeah, guys, whenever you like, and see a little bit of the countryside here.

Unknown:

Well, yeah, you should, because, like, seeing it from above is incredible, and seeing in a helicopter is even better. Like, I've seen a lot of the country in my my 180 at the time, and it's in, you know, you're limited to this window here and that window here, but in the helicopter, you got the nice, big bubble window in the front, you've got the floor windows the passenger seats, like the bubble.

Mike Peterson:

See from everything.

James McBride:

You can just see everything. And like, I, I never get bored of it. Like it's it's so beautiful here. I love every time I go up.

Mike Peterson:

So I did go up in a small fixed wing plane with your dad. And that was scary, because your dad wanted to go up above, like, the the mountains, the highest part of El Salvador,

James McBride:

Of course.

Mike Peterson:

And

James McBride:

first he did,

Mike Peterson:

then he's like, and it was super turbulent. We're hitting all this turbulence, and he's yelling at the pilot to go lower. And the pilot's like, I don't know. And your dad's like, no, the plane can handle it. Go lower, go lower, and I'm ready to just toss my cookies. I was so sick. I'm like, yeah. I'm like, Man, I can't drive with your dad or fly with your dad. He's dangerous either way.

James McBride:

Yeah, that's on par with the paragliding now, you'll never go flying with John again. You'll never go paragliding.

Mike Peterson:

Yeah, and definitely don't drive with him.

James McBride:

Oh, I know he's a good driver, but he's unconventional,

Mike Peterson:

yes, yes, very aggressive driver. Yeah. It's pretty funny every time I see him, he's got a new scratch on his car. So

James McBride:

that's true. That is true. Yeah,

Mike Peterson:

But yeah. So look forward to getting up there in a helicopter, and I'm assuming when you guys do start charging for services that the people can pay in Bitcoin, Yep, absolutely.

James McBride:

Yeah, 100% Yeah.

Mike Peterson:

I'm assuming there'll be a lot of your clientele. I hope so it'll, it'll be any anything that's kind of surprised you as you've been going through this process is, you know, markets that you wouldn't have thought of that now you're like, Oh, this is probably going to be a decent size market.

James McBride:

I wasn't aware of how many people, like, already reached out to me, because I you know, you never know if, if certain people want to take a helicopter, or can take a helicopter. And then you realize there's whole real estate market where there's people that want to show properties, then there's the government side, where there's the the geo surveying, there's, there's just so many use cases for a helicopter that that that actually surprised well, it, yeah, no. It surprised me for sure, because I wasn't sure. I thought it would be kind of tourism your standard go up and see the city, which is awesome, but there's, there's so many more things that, yeah, you

Mike Peterson:

I can see too. You know, especially the people can see. that have the resources, if they're they're coming in and they just want to land at the airport and take a helicopter to where they're going, even to, like Punta Mango it's a two and a half hour drive right now from the until the new airports open that they're building. But, you know, in a helicopter, I'm assuming it would be, you know, like, 25 minutes or something.

James McBride:

Oh, exactly, yeah, our flights gonna be just about 25-30 minutes. And I mean, even where we're based at Salamanca, like to drive to there instead of driving to Ilopango, which is the other closest airport,

Mike Peterson:

uh huh,

James McBride:

that, as we all know here, Ilopango was a nightmare to get to. Unfortunately, you know, can take over an hour to get there, whereas for us, most people, depending on where you're in the city, it's about 20 minutes drive because it's in Nuevo Cuscutlan and yeah, like that location has access to it being centrally located is just, you know, we can web out in any direction in like, 10-15, minutes. So skipping traffic is a huge one for everyone. And if people come in, let's say someone only has a few days in El Salvador, they don't want to be spending all this time driving around from place to place. It takes up a whole day. Sometimes. Now you can fit in multiple things in one day with the helicopter. And it's, you know, it's the, with how small the country is,

Mike Peterson:

It's really the whole country in a day.

James McBride:

Yeah, and you could think, like, long term cost savings, you don't have to come back again. And do you know hotels and flights and all those things like you can, you can justify getting in a helicopter, for sure.

Mike Peterson:

Yeah, no, that makes sense. So where can people, like, keep up to date for when you guys are ready to start taking bookings. How can they get a hold of you? They have questions follow you on Twitter or whatever, whatever shout outs there you want to give?

James McBride:

Yeah, absolutely. I don't know if it's easiest for to have our handles.

Mike Peterson:

We'll put it in the show notes too, Paco. Follow up with that, but, but sometimes it's you know, people aren't gonna go back and look at that, so yeah, verbally to them.

James McBride:

Also, Instagram would be Cielo, Norte, Aviacion, and then

Mike Peterson:

they have to spell all that out. Or is that?

James McBride:

Oh, yeah. So it's C, I, E, L, O, N, O, R, T, E, A, V, I, C, I, O, N,

Mike Peterson:

Okay,

James McBride:

That's the Instagram, okay. And then X is a lot easier. It's C, N, A Salvador. Okay, yeah. And if you want WhatsApp, it's 7745 8200.

Mike Peterson:

Okay, and that's the El Salvador number. So, 503.

James McBride:

Exactly. Sorry, 503, sorry.

Mike Peterson:

Yeah. Okay, perfect. And so they can, you know. If people are interested, they can touch base with you and find out when you guys are going to start taking official book.

James McBride:

100% Yeah, we'll be doing a lot of promo once we're up and running, and I'm happy to take questions now, you know, do future, you know, plans, because we really believe that mid February we'll get that certification. It's been 13 months. We've got our final, you know, interviews with the AAC this week. So we really feel strongly about mid February. Yeah.

Mike Peterson:

Oh, before we go, I gotta touch on two things. One, we got to have you clean up there. You clean up nicely. Thank you. You and your brother meeting with with Bukele, yeah. How did that come about? I think you weren't even initially supposed to be there. But no, I wasn't. I got looped in,

James McBride:

Yeah. So George got invited initially, you know, all of his SatStreet initiatives, and I was introduced to Max and Stacy through George, and I've helped them with a couple flights, as we know. And one day, funny enough, I actually had to cancel a flight because the winds were so bad. And so, you know, I sat down with Stacy for a bit, and we kind of shared the similar story that we're talking now, like where I came from, the whole flight down. And, you know, the funny stories with the customs and what are you doing in El Salvador? Unfortunately, I had to cancel him too, because

Mike Peterson:

Was that the flight with what's his name? Why am I blanking right now, the gold guy, Peter Schiff, weren't, those winds were like over 80 kilometers. didn't you have, didn't you have, oh, flight with Peter Schiff? It was crazy. Yeah, at the beach,

James McBride:

the air show, because it was just, it was just unmanageable, how windy it was. But, yeah, it was similar winds that day. And anyways, I told her the whole story, and then I guess, you know, she, she liked it enough, and she, she texted George a couple hours later, or whenever it was, and said, Hey, I'd like your, your brother, to join in and tell the President that story as well. So I was really honored, you know, it was, what an incredible meeting, to meet him. He's, he's an amazing person, and like, you know, he took the time, sat down with us for an hour and, like, listened, engaged and exchanged conversation. It was, it was incredible.

Mike Peterson:

Yeah, sounds awesome, yeah. One last thing. What place did you come in the poker tournament?

James McBride:

Two, Yeah, second place.

Mike Peterson:

I think they started with 100 I think I was number seven. I made it to the final table.

James McBride:

I remember yeah

Mike Peterson:

And yeah. I had a I had a weird Yeah. There was a weird hand that I actually thought and so did the other guy I was up against. Both thought that I had won it, and then then they realized that he had pulled a flush.

James McBride:

I remember that too. He actually stood up and he sat down, like, what is it? Yeah,

Mike Peterson:

but number two, wow,

James McBride:

Yeah, yeah. And I'm, I'm not much of a poker player. I hate to say that, right, because there's so many guys that were, you know, so, so, you know, that's your thing. And I just, you know, I actually, at the first table, was thinking, Ah, you know, probably end up, you know, going home early. I don't think I'm going to make it. And then it, and then ended up moving to the second table, and then the third table, and then, you know, six hours go by and I'm at the final table. I'm like, let's keep going. Yeah,

Mike Peterson:

Well, I kind of wanted to go home early. I'm like, I'll just play kind of aggressively and go out.

James McBride:

That's what gets you to the end, right? You know, you go in, kind of not caring.

Mike Peterson:

And then I wound up being there late. Yeah, screwed up my sleep, my sleep. I've been focusing on getting my good, good sleep, getting to bed early. And so that night, not somebody, yeah, but it was fun.

James McBride:

It was so fun. It was so nice to have the final three players be like, SatStreet and Porter are and CNA, like our

Mike Peterson:

Really, it was John. I didn't know that. whole family,

James McBride:

Larry loud and me and the final three, we're all wearing our SatStreet CNA stuff.

Mike Peterson:

We're gonna think it was rigged.

James McBride:

Exactly. Yeah, it was poetic.

Mike Peterson:

The sponsors take down the poker tournament. Yeah, no. But it was fun. It was it was fun. The golf tournament was fun. I actually played in the pickleball tournament. And, and, yeah, we did you? We did. We did respectable. I think we, we took fourth. The guy I was paired up with was a lot better than me. So, yeah, so I think we took fourth, which was,

James McBride:

Pickleball is one of those interesting sports. You know, I've seen, I've played with a guy who's like 85 that just whooped me. Yeah, you know, I

Mike Peterson:

I think my partner was five or 10 years older than me, and it definitely much better I've only played a few times, but I was shocked at how, you know, I played, you know, match here and there before, but we played like all day long in that tournament, in the hot sun, and, man, I was beat after that.

James McBride:

Well, that's why I can't do 18 holes ever. I do nine, nine. And that's,

Mike Peterson:

yeah,

James McBride:

yeah,

Mike Peterson:

but it was no, it was fun, all right. Well, I'm, I guess I'll see you tomorrow in Punta. Mango is you fly in there with Max.

James McBride:

Yeah, absolutely.

Mike Peterson:

Will meet you there in the beach.

James McBride:

Yeah.

Mike Peterson:

And yeah, we'll keep up the date. Maybe once you guys get up and operational, we'll have you back on and give more specifics of what you guys are offering perfect.

James McBride:

That would be awesome. Yeah, thank you.

Mike Peterson:

All right. Thank you. Hey guys. As we wrap this podcast, we want to let you guys know about an effort we have to support Andy's family, something that we decided we wanted to do because of how much Andy was a part of everything was as we open the Bitcoin Beach suites. We are going to give 100% of all the revenue that comes in in the first two months to Suez and Maven to make sure that his family is supported. And so please keep remembering them in your guys' prayers. But also, if you get the chance to come here to El Zonte, this is a way that you can help support their family by by booking over there at the suites. And we'll make sure all that revenue goes to them, paid to them in Bitcoin.