San Juan, Loud & Obnoxious

It is after 3:00 AM and the Stop & Go Bar across from the La Concha Resort at Ashford & Magdallena in San Juan, Puerto Rico is still going as loud and obnoxious as ever.  We thought that we had arrived in a paradise, but were woken up during the early morning hours to Hell; where the local mayor and police have no desire to create an enjoyable vacation environment for tourists.  Unlike most places of business along Ashford Avenue, The Stop & Go caters mostly to local patrons who like to intimidate the many tourists whose vacation dollars help finance their decadent life style.

This bar is a prime example of the lack of discipline and control that exists in San Juan, Puerto Rico.  I’ve been around the world and I can say that even Bangkok is much more civilized than San Juan!  The police have no desire to enforce civil order and blatantly ignore all signs of civil disorder and disobedience.  Unlike most bars in the rest of the United States, the Stop & Go Bar has no last call.  With no front wall or doors on its structure this 24hour open bar cranks out loud music and allows its noisy beer drinking patrons to spill out onto the sidewalk all night long and way into the wee hours of the morning past sunrise.  You need only to look out your window to see and hear their screaming patrons standing on the sidewalk drinking beer out of bottles and cans.  You can constantly hear their beer bottles clanking as they are thrown into a large trash barrel that sits outside on the sidewalk.  Later in the morning after the crowds have finally gone and you begin to drift off to sleep, you are suddenly greeted by the loud nonsensical screaming of a mad local drunk.  It is rumored that he receives free beer from the Stop & Go to help feed his drunken lunacy, so that he can continue to annoy local guests and residence all day long.  All of this occurring under the watchful eye of local police who constantly pass while doing nothing about it.  For local police it seems the law is little more than a guideline.

This is not a vacation town for families.  Take your families somewhere else.  This not a site that young impressionable minds should ever see.  If you plan on sleeping while on vacation, stay away from Ashford Avenue.  It is hard to believe you are in the United States as you look around this lawless town.