It’s fun to go out in a new place. I wanted to go out and try local drinks, listen to local music, and mingle with local people. The first night I arrived in San Juan I went out on a bar crawl with the hostel that I was staying at. I definitely didn’t pregame that much because estar borracha (to be drunk) was not my goal. Drinking just to drink while traveling is a missed opportunity.

La Placita

La placita is a popular spot with bars pumping a lot of loud music and handing out free shots.

The bar crawl with the hostel wasn’t totally necessary because everyone was being given a free shot upon entry of pretty much every bar anyways.

The most common shot was a delicious, 30% alcohol, licorice tasting shot, called Chichaito. It is a mixture of anisette liqueur and white rum.

There were more tourists than locals, but I would not consider it totally a tourist trap. Everyone hopped from bar to bar, and even danced in the streets. This video gives a bit of a sense of La Placita.

During the bar crawl, the group left me. No bueno! (No good!) But also a hostel bar crawl isn’t the most structured event, and none of the travelers have much allegiance to anybody yet since we are all strangers to each other. Oh well! I wasn’t the only one lost. We eventually found each other at one of the bars thanks to a group text established by the hostel.

Calle Cerra

Calle Cerra is another area in San Juan to drink and party. It’s way more local. The drinks were cheaper, and there was definitely more people hanging out in the streets. Less shots and more mixed drinks.

Here’s the view from a second floor bar of the streets where a lot of people were hanging out.

The street was the destination rather than the very warm bar at times. Here’s a look into the warm bar:

I ordered my drinks from the most central kiosk. I felt like trying something like a unique juice and rum. Rum is also the alcohol in Mojitos and Piña Coladas, but I was too intrigued by the unique juice options in that moment. Ron means rum, which makes me giggle a bit since Ron is a man’s name in English.

I opted for a jugo de guanabana con ron coco (guanabana juice with coconut rum). It was probably a combination, no one should order. I wouldn’t recommend it. Another time, I ordered was “jugo de tamarindo y coco ron” (coconut rum and tamarind juice). I also would not recommend that combination. But I didn’t come to drink vodka sodas in Puerto Rico, so I wanted to try unique combinations!

I preferred Calle Cerra to La Placita. It was just a little chiller.