With its shoeshine boys, street vendors, mustachioed men playing board games, and couples making out, Plaza Bolívar (which stands on the same spot where the original Plaza Mayor once stood) is your quintessential Latin American square. On the square’s north side stands the stately, mustard-yellow Alcaldía (city hall). A statue of a mounted Bolívar is the centerpiece for the leafy western end. The new malecón (boardwalk) funnels south from the gritty port area, with its unsightly cranes and container ships, to the slick, flashy marina, where there is also a small beach (but don’t think about swimming here).