The photo above, taken in Santa Lucia, is of a typical pulperia. In Honduran Spanish, pulperia does not mean an establishment that specializes in the preparation of pulpo (octopus). Rather, it is a generic term for a family-owned, all purpose convenience store where food and drink items are the most common products for sale. Every large metropolis and tiny rural outpost in the original "banana republic" has a pulperia or two or eighteen thousand. The pulperia above is gaily colored, has the requisite Pepsi sign (Honduran law forbids businesses from not hoisting at least one), and, perhaps bluntly referring to the nature of the food and drink for sale inside, prominently displays an advertisement for Alka-Seltzer. It is nice to know that the treatment is available in the same location as the source of the illness...
