Created as supply centers during the 19th century, these rural grocery stores rapidly became social institutions for gauchos. Time went by, but customs and legends prevail within their walls.
On the straight line drawn by the Pampas that delimit the sky and the Earth, a few constructions, as old as our homeland, rise in the horizon. Clung to a past time, some pulperias are still scattered throughout Buenos Aires countryside as witnesses of the heart of each town. A mixture of grocery stores and drinking establishments, the ones that survive keep the idiosyncrasy of the countryside, the liking for conversation, and well-arranged glasses for cane rum.
While there are about twenty establishments left, in the 19th century there were 350. Pulperias were not only general stores where liquor was sold, but also places where people would gather to talk, improvise gaucho folksongs, play cards, and even challenge others to death. At that time, Argentina’s countryside was certainly not a place for the weak, and the fights between gauchos were so often that it is still possible to see the security bars placed on counters to keep the storekeeper safe.
With their features intact, these rural temples continue to be the center of the country’s routine. Shelves packed with ancient products, signs prohibiting to enter "armed and wearing a hat," and hundred-year-old cashiers tell the story of a live legacy. Fights between peasants no longer exist, but when you enter the pulperias of Navarro, San Antonio de Areco, Baradero, or Mercedes, you can relive the stories of Don Segundo Sombra, Gaucho Juan Moreira, and even Martín Fierro himself.