Tourist Sites & Things to Do
 Trujillo Bay is really spectacular. With the old Spanish fort with its canons on the bluff, and the big curving bay, and the almost volcano-like mountain looming behind the city, the physical setting could hardly be better. A tropical paradise in the rough, and not a Holiday Inn or Motel Six in sight. The BEACH right at the base of the center of town has a nice sand surface with a lot of activity. You can pick a champa and alternate between the sun and shade. Buy a native “petate”(straw mat—about $2.50 to $3.00) at Casa Hode or several of the other tourist shops in town, and use it to lie on the sand. You can buy beer or drinks at the various champa bars, or buy lunch or dinner there for a very reasonable price. If you are lucky you can find a place in the shade, or even a hammock to spend the day. Often little boys will come by and try to sell you carved stonework that is from Santa Fe (but is not a Mayan artifact, as they may claim). But it is cheap enough and a good souvenir. Starfish chandeliers and other items may also be offered, and horseback rides on rather small and docile steeds may be available.
 The beach further down towards the airport has the popular, more upscale, Bahia Bar and Gringos. At the Bahia Bar there are changing rooms and shower, but it is quite a hike from the center of town. Since this area is closer to the Lagoon, if there is no breeze, there may be sand fleas. Be careful to use repellant the moment you lay on the beach or get out of the water. You won’t notice the bites until it is too late. The beach to the west of town does not have any sand fleas.
If you have transportation, consider driving towards Puerto Castillo and about one mile before the entrance to the port on the right look for a sand road that will take you the 200 yards to the beach on the outside of the bay. You will find bigger waves, absolutely tourist free, and only a very occasional native walking by. Watch the current.
Hiking
Hiking along the beach to Campamento, the Garifuna fishing villages of Santa Fe, San Antonio, or Guadeloupe is easy, but you will have to wade across numerous small waterways that enter the ocean. Inquire as to the distance at which you think you may be comfortable. It’s about 10 kilometers to Santa Fe, and several more kilometers to San Antonio and Guadeloupe.
 Hiking in the national park above the town is beautiful and cooling as you reach the top at about 4,000 feet in altitude. The summit is a cloud forest environment. You should hear or see macaws, monkeys, giant ferns, orchids, and abundant other flowers. There is a small entrance pavilion just above the town, but nowadays it is empty. The less adventurous can drive to the top if it has not been raining too hard and you have a four wheel vehicle, or at least a vehicle with good clearance.
They say there is a pre-Columbian road that traverses the low mountains just to the west of town and Mount Calentura. It leads over the ridge to the plain of the Rio Aguan. Someday, perhaps this will be developed for hikers. It begins near Campamento.
Talk to Matthias Henkel at Turtle Tours at the Villa Brinkley for tours and guided hikes(504-434-4444 or fax at 504-434-4431 or e-mail at ttours@hondutel.hn). He has city tours , tropical rainforest tours,walks in the park above the town, trips to the  Guaymoreto Lagoon, the crocodile preserve, the Garifuna villages of Santa Fe and Santa Rosa de Aguan, and more distant adventures to the Mosquitia and throughout the country. Friends of mine hired him to take a several hour hike through the Park in the rainforest above Trujillo, and found the experience great.
Go to FUCAGUA at their office on the right halfway up the road from the center of town to the Villa Brinkley. They have maps to look at and maybe some tips for excursions. Sometimes there are Peace Corps workers there with whom you may converse; at other times, there is no one who speaks English.
Birding
Birding can be very rewarding in the Trujillo area. Villa Vista Dorada sits above the ravine of the Rio Cristales, and in the morning between the hours of 5:30 and 7:30 a.m. flying below the terrace we have identified at least 4 different parrots (including the yellow-naped parrot that is supposed to only be on the Bay Islands)., blue-gray tanagers, numerous hummingbirds (maybe the Emerald---but not confirmed), keel-billed toucans, and countless others. In the winter all the transient migratory birds from up North are present in addition to the locals. Further west down the coast are any number of small rivers that empty into the Carribbean just a few hundred meters from the road. Numerous interesting waterfowl can be seen on trees and stumps in the streams. The Guaimoreta Lagoon has numerous waterfowl, and canoe trips can be arranged by Matthias Henkel at Turtle Tours (504)434-4431 or e-mail at ttours@hondutel.hn. Buy a copy of Birding Honduras by Mark Bonta and David L. Anderson (to purchase contact vicentemurphy@yahoo.com.) and take it with you. It is not so much a bird identification volume as it is an enabler of adventure and guide for side trips in Honduras, including excellent birdwatching. Check their book and you find trips like one they recommend that is only an hour and fifteen minutes east of Trujillo by paved and dirt road, where you can head into the headwaters of the Mosquitia Coast for birding and hiking and a visit to a splendid waterfall.
Water Sports
Water Sports are only rudimentary as yet in Trujillo. There are two or three Americans with motorized boats who might take you out for a tour or fishing. Try asking at Rincon de los Amigos, or at any of the other beach champas. Maybe a local fisherman will take you fishing in the small motorized dinghy provided to some of them by the Japanese fishing cooperative. Or maybe you can get one of the Garifuna fishermen to take you in his “cayuco” (dugout canoe), but beware as they are low to the water and not very stable. Turtle Tours can arrange a boat trip to the Guaimoreta Lagoon for birding and nature observation.
Hot Spring
The Hot Spring about seven kilometers from the center of town just beyond the Pech village of Silin. The resort has cabins and a restaurant, but you can pay a small entrance fee (50 lempiras) and an additional charge for a 30-40 minute massage. Great way to relax after some hard traveling or hiking, and the food is good. Take bug spray if sunset is approaching.
Fishing Villages
The Garifuna FISHING VILLAGES of Santa Fe, San Antonio, and Guadelupe are picturesque and reachable by the unpaved road that is just back from the beach and stretches to the west of town. Only in the last 5 or 6 years have most inhabitants of these towns “improved” their houses from mud and a thatch to concrete. For a small fee the children will cut a coconut and insert a straw so you can enjoy the milk. In Guadelupe, the last store on the road on the beach side sells hats made from the coconut palm, and native-made drums. Great gifts—but you may have to sneak the drums, which are partly made of animal hide—past immigration. It’s a treat to have lunch at Comedor Caballero in Santa Fe. There are other Garifuna villages along the coast east of Trujillo that might be a good day trip by car or bus. Santa Rosa de Aguan and Limon are picturesque.
Historic Sites
Cemetary
 The old CEMETERY in the center of town is evocative and has the grave of the legendary adventurer, William Walker. His grave has a cross with his name and the epitaph "fusilado"---meaning "shot by firing squad". Behind the hospital, and accessible from the fort is the spot where they shot Walker, and nowadays it sports a small monument. For those intrepid tourists continuing on to Nicaragua, be aware that in Granada, Nicaragua they make a very big deal of the famous Mr. Walker, possibly because he burned down the town when he was chased out. Of course he ended up in Trujillo, where he was captured and shot.
No one has pointed out to me the location of the burial of the earliest colonists.
Museum
The Museum RUFINO GALAN in Trujillo is funky and interesting, and most unusually, has its own stream-fed swimming hole. The private owner of this museum is a treat to talk to if you speak Spanish. If not, the displays are rarely marked. With so much history and pre-Columbian artifacts waiting to be found and catalogued, let’s hope that Trujillo, in the near future, gets its own serious museum.
Fort
The Fortaleza of Santa Barbara still commands the bay from atop its bluff, but is somewhat hidden from the street by the concrete basketball court. A small entrance fee will assure you an unparalleled site for photos and a view of the bay. If you have a penchant for collecting early Caribbean prints, there is a print of Trujillo done by an intrepid Dutch artist, Ogilby in 1671. It shows a much larger fortification than is present today, and walls that extend all the way down to the almost sea level at the town entrance to the east. The Ministry of Culture is restoring the Commandancia---the part of the fort that was the headquarters building (with the square brick columns). There are other plans to improve the rest of the fort and its permanent exhibition area, and eventually begin restorations of buildings in the historic center of town. Spain is sponsored a mission that came to Trujillo in 2002 to begin the process of improving the infrastructure of the town. It looks like things are getting ready to happen in Trujillo.
 Look carefully at many of the old buildings in the center of town as many are hidden jewels. The prison is the old capital building. Many store-fronts are old Spanish buildings with 19th century French Colonial style second floors of wood. A group of visiting architects in 1996 declared the barbershop to be an important 300-year-old Spanish Colonial edifice. No one has yet sought to identify and improve the scant remains of the old convent, hospital, or Casa Real, or other early edifices. Let’s hope that the government, a foundation or other benefactor steps forward to help preserve Trujillo’s historic structures and patrimony before it's too late.
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