Tegucigalpa (Hondurans in general, and people familiar with the city, shorten it to "Tegus", while most locals actually use the full name...) is a great example Central America of urban sprawl gone amok, spread out across very hilly terrain.Tegucigalpa receives little foreign tourism, relative to the other Central American capital cities. This is largely due to its location far from beaches or volcanoes, and its (supposed) lack of tourist and cultural activities. It is far from the beach, has few to no large grassy parks, is notoriously dangerous, and has a horrible reputation in most guide books, which promote the idea of Tegus as an unfortunately unavoidabe transit hub on the route through Central America.Of course, the city, a 400 year-old mining center, has a depth that is there for those with time and nerve to find it. It has a plethora of interesting, if decaying, old colonial building, and many old stone streets, windiny intriguingly up steep hills, to hidden parks, stone steps, and old houses. The defining event in recent Honduran history, and that of Tegucigalpa also, is Hurricane Mitch, which devastated the country in 1998. Mitch reportedly set the country back 50 years. Tegus is still recovering from the massive flooding of the river, and equally massive landslides, both triggered by the rampant deforestation of the hills surrounding the city. Indeed, signs of whole colonias (neighbourhoods) having slid off steep hills are still evident. Workers continue to toil daily in the river, removing silt deposited by the flooding. Many or most people lost friends and relitives during the crisis. Tipping in Honduras is 10%. Tipping is not generally expected at smaller restaurants but always appreciated. http://wikitravel.org/en/Tegucigalpa