Cocktails. Cockfights. Fun Weekend. San Juan. Puerto Rico.

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Just think freedom.

“these birds have a fighting chance,
unlike that plate of buffalo wings
you devoured at the bar the other night”

Do if you like. Do NOT if you do NOT like.

– Gameness til the End

FROM COCKTAILS TO COCKFIGHTS, HERE’S HOW TO HAVE A WILD WEEKEND IN SAN JUAN

Puerto Rico’s crown jewel has never been hotter.

CHRIS WILSON
MAY 24, 2017
MAXIM

San Juan has something for just about everyone. Puerto Rico’s steamy island capital boasts beautiful beaches and sultry hotel pools, lush rainforests and stunning bioluminescent bays, vibrant nightlife and old-timey tradition…not to mention some excellent rum (75 percent of the stuff we drink in the U.S. comes from Puerto Rico) and, of course, that starchy, garlicky delicacy known as mofongo.

San Juan may no longer possess the same dangerous allure that Hunter S. Thompson chronicled in The Rum Diaries, but this port city’s enduring tropical appeal has never really waned among tourists and troublemakers alike. It’s favored by the fanny-packed cruise ship set who stroll the cobblestoned streets of Old San Juan (home of the world’s first Piña Colada) just as much as the stylish locals sipping craft cocktails at chic nightspots.

Here’s some tips for a fun-filled weekend in Puerto Rico’s crown jewel:

Do:

If you have the stomach to sit through a a feathery death match or two, hit up Club Gallistico de Puerto Rico, San Juan’s undisputed hub of cockfighting. Puerto Rico’s controversial national bloodsport has a home in an actual mini-stadium in the Isla Verde neighborhood, less than a five minute walk from the El San Juan.

For about $12 a ticket, you can swill a local Medalla Light and watch as many cockfights as your bloodthirsty heart desires (which honestly, won’t be many unless you’re intent on betting on the winners). The fights happen continuously throughout the day on Thursdays and Saturdays during cockfighting season.

Boxing-style ring girls amp up the screaming crowd of gamblers who bet on either red or blue-tagged roosters in fights that don’t last more than a few minutes, and usually don’t end well for the loser. It’s definitely not for the squeamish, but at least these birds have a fighting chance, unlike that plate of buffalo wings you devoured at the bar the other night.

Read more here for where to stay, what to do, and where to eat.