Text, images and edit by Josh Diaz
We finally made it to Brooklyn where we started off by having a few drinks. Little did you know these few drinks turned into us being out until 4am. The best part was that we had to head out to catch our 6am flight to Aguadilla. It didn’t seem like we were going to make it because Casey was puking his brain out the entire drive to the airport. It was a miracle they let us on that plane. Four hours later we arrived, totally wasted, in Puerto Rico’s lovely Aguadilla Airport.
Trying to keep ourselves together, we watched the big smiling faces of Miguel and Franky in the background handling biz as usual on their cell phones. Miguel took us to one of the most amazing places in Puerto Rico, on the northern shore. We started sobering up very quickly as we walked in crazy heat to this amazing cannon on the beach. As the day dragged on we were pretty much out of commission for the day. Casey still didn’t feel well hahaha.
Wednesday:
9am: We woke up to the sound of crazy chickens and dogs barking. Half an hour later we started packing our stuff to hit the road after Miguel’s grandma cooked us a great big breakfast. We gathered and headed down to San Juan area.
On the way Mogul showed us some crazy spots were Franky and Casey busted some huge tricks. If you have seen the edit, the disaster from Casey is insane. After a few clips and few spills we continued driving to the old city of San Juan. There we met up with skate-shop owner Gilbert Marrero that kindly hosted us for the week in the city. At that point we hit the bar where the drinks were as cheap as you can get – a dollar a beer. Thank god for Medalla. We probably consumed more beer than the whole barrio in San Juan.
So after a few hours in the office some of the local kids started to show up. We headed out to an old school local skate spot: the UPR which is one of the most skated spots in San Juan. We had a good session, but after 1.5 hours the local police showed up to kick us out. Paul, one of the locals, flipped out and started to charge the renta cop. Check out the edit.
The night life in San Juan is just what you need after a long day. We embarked on a hang loose tour of bars in S.J. and wherever we went Damien ended up making friends. By the end of the night everyone in San Juan knew Damien.
Thursday:
We ended up rolling out of bed around 10 am, then headed out to old San Juan. By the way no one in Puerto Rico skates during the day. HOT ASS BALLS do not go out without a gallon of water, sun block, extra sun block if your white and sun glasses – especially if you’re hung over. We walked up to the famous totem plaza where Casey landed this nice wall ride and then Damien found a cool spot where he banged out a nice monkey plant.
Right after that the worst thing that can happen to a photographer on tour happened to me: my camera died, shutter malfunction.
Thanks to casey’s Canon Rebel we ended up covering the rest of this trip.
Our last night was the greatest night ever. We finished the tour the same way it started. Drinking till 5 am, loosing Casey in a field… he was actually sleeping on a tree and I was snoring on plane to New York smelling like shit. The best Psyko tour so far and more to come, traveling with the greatest bunch of dudes in this industry: Damien, Franky and Casey. Thanks and see you in Santee.
Thanks to el skate house and Astrid, Miguel Ramos, his Grandma, Rev skate park, Medallas, Red line bar “the office” and the whole Puerto Rico scene.
