Pulperia was the name given to the company stores of the industries that extracted sodium nitrate from caliche deposits between 1850 and 1930 in Northern Chile in the current regions of Tarapaca and Antofagasta. These nitrate companies were called “Oficinas Salitreras” or “Saltpeter villages”, located on the large and arid Pampa del Tamarugal and Atacama Desert, the driest in the world.