So Back in December the Los Dave stopped by.

So I went home in November and Los Dave and I had such a good time that they decided to come to my house - in El Salvador. A few weeks and a lot of confusion, it turned out to be a great few weeks of my life. Arriving back to El Salvador there was still a lot of confusion in terms of what I was going to be doing, 2 months of confusion to be exact. While I was waiting for my bosses to make a decision on what I was allowed to do I got to introduce my best friends from back home to my amazing friends in El Salvador - and along the way we got to see most of the country.

It had been two years since I had quality time with the Dave on the far right. The other Dave had already spent some time here in-country with me. Needless to say, Red Dog is famous in the country. Hanbone would also have his moment in the sun.

My right-hand man in Peace Corps Gabe Cohen invited Los Dave and myself to visit some land that a friend of his owns. When we got there we were invited to take a tour of a part of a mountain owned by a wealthy Salvadoran family. We did not know that amazing swinging would be involved. Look at how good Hannon looks there. You would never know that it was so hard for him to do it...

It took three spotters and a consultant to get Hannon up there. Six bicepts and 45 minutes later - Dave looked good!

¿Qué ondas?

Ando wasn´t half as bad, but I still had to help - rookies.

I got up in two seconds and went right for the top step without help - look at the guys in utter amazement!




Some say that my spirit is the wind - I look at peace flying through the sky.
Then Gabe had to ruin it all and bust out this X Games stunt.

Oh yeah, Ando has hangtime too.

As if ultimate swinging was not enough - we then were invited to use the family´s personal zip-line that connects them to most parts of their land. Probably the coolest thing I have ever seen, and they use it just to get from point A to B.

After zip-lining it up, we decided it was time to cool off. Good tuck, Ando!

Hannon hesitated a little bit - but he got in too.

One with nature, again...

This grin did not leave Hannon for the entire trip. A true gentleman and has a skill for attracting latin women. Next time you see him ask him about our last night at Tunko - Dave spoke no Spanish and had college girls saying that he was ´soooo charasmatic.

Salvadoran rule - if there is a hammock, shirts are optional.

Splitting coconuts with a machete.

Concentration, 20-20 vision. This kid has a future.



Solid coconut chopping posture.

A quick jam session.

Telling old Michigan State stories.

Both runners.

Both Resident Advisors.

Two years off campus together.

Same major at school.

And - both part time truck drivers senior year.

What were we missing?

BINGO - catching a hen and playing with it.

FACT - Once you catch a hen, fold one of its wings over its head and within 3 seconds it falls asleep.

That´s my bird.

¿Cómo se dice straight chilling?

Ando and I have the same smile in this one. We were also cut from varsity basketball together... (he got cut 10 minutes before me, so tecnically I lasted longer than he did).

So we had a lot of downtime, which is good - I mean, it had been two years since we had all spent QT together. This led to some awesome photos!

WHO´S EYE IS IT?????

Study them.

Think about it.

You almost got it!

If you answered: Ando, Hannon, Jimbo - YOU WON!

A RARE ENCOUNTER WITH SUGAR CANE!!!

One of the largest exports in El Salvador, apart from the amazing café, is sugar cane. However, every crop, the local communties keep a porotion of the cane and turn it into candy. Here is the process: cut down the sugar cane, grind it down using a grinding system ran on horse power, boil the sugar into a paste form and then make many different types of dulces. In this shot, Hannon is taking control of the boiling process. Beneath the pot is the biggest and hottest fire I had ever seen. They let us take leaves and dip it into the foam that the fire produced - tasted amazing!

This might look easy, but it is very hard. A trained guy has to man the fan because within a matter of seconds the pot overflows due to the massive fire below. Considering there was 50 Salvadoran farmers and 4 white guys - they were super pumped that we came to learn about the process and let Los Dave have a try. No joke, Ando is a master at this.


This would be our Beatles album cover.



Unfortunately, time passes quickly. Los Dave left and I stayed behind. I will never forget their visit for as long as I live - we had so many great moments. From the city to the beach to the mountains to the woods - we got it done. I am a very lucky guy because El Salvador is very close to the United States. Hannon was not as fortunate in terms of having guests. For those who don´t know, the guy on the left spent two years in Kazakhstan as a Youth Development Volunteer. Since I got to El Salvador, Hannon and I had talked about the day in which he would come visit me. Two years went by so fast even though at times it felt like time stood still.

Great trip, boys. Thank you.