After SXSW wound down Patrick and I jumped some planes to our first island on the Akomplice 2012 Mini Tour, Puerto Rico. Puerto Rico has a special relationship to Akomplice, first because the people have always supported Akomplice, and second because Patrick and I partially grew up there. On the trip over we met 3 cool girls, all inside planes. The first two are shown in my row on either side of me, to the left you have Chinese native Fuhan, who’s in a band called QSBS and on the right you have Colombian party animal Luisa; these girls were flying from Austin to Orlando. The next flight was bound to San Juan, this was where we met Brittany, she is a native Puerto Rican and works as an interviewer, mostly within the NBA. We landed late, around 10:30pm and headed to the last standing restaurant, which ended up to be a local skate grunge bar, they served up a couple serious Puerto Rican sandwiches and then we passed out, from the trip not the food. Waking up in PR felt great, warm humid air, hustle and bustle around the streets, fresh fruits and foods; we grabbed a bite at a small local cafe and then headed straight for Plazas De Las Americas, which is Puerto Ricos largest mall. When we arrived to the mall we were warmly greeted by our friends Pedro and Carrie, who own the long time Akomplice retailer Treats. For anyone in Puerto Rico you know Treats holds down streetwear on the island, and always has. Pedro and Carrie have background in street art and British fashion, they once lived in SF and kicked it with the not yet formed Upper Playground camp. It was really good to finally step foot in Treats, a store we’ve been carried at for 5 years. Time began to get tight for our flight out, so we ran back to San Juan International airport, copped a rum filled coconut and jumped the flight to our next stop, the U.S. Virgin islands, keep you posted on that. -Mike Akomplice
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