Tegucigalpa’s bustling downtown square is a great place to people-watch. It’s invariably full of city folk walking around, buying newspapers, selling odds and ends, or just hanging out. Beware of sitting under the trees as you may find yourself the object of target practice from the pigeons above. Tourist police hover in the square, so while flaunting valuables is never recommended, the park is fairly safe.

A peatonal, pedestrian street, extends several blocks west of the square and is lined with (rather ordinary) shops and restaurants. There are also banks where you can change money and money changers lurking nearby for those who don’t want to wait in line at the bank (but please don’t flash your cash; remember that US$100 is a lot of money in Honduras). The money changers are legitimate and generally honest, but make sure you have an idea of the current exchange rate just to be on the safe side.

Street vendors once clogged the peatonal and the plaza at Iglesia Los Dolores but have been moved to the covered market next to the church. The peatonal has been renamed Paseo Liquidámbar, for the American sweetgum tree that grows in Honduras.