In Santiago's backstreets, an outdated cafe culture clings to life

At kerbside tables, down shadowy alleys and in underground arcades, coffee in Chile’s capital is still served con piernas – with legs

- John Bartlett

Waitresses in short skirts and high heels serve coffee at the joints that form part of a curious, anachronistic hangover from the 1980s. In the exotically named caf es, the staff – who are nearly all migrants from other countries – wear swimwear.

“It’s odd that these places, which objectify women, exist today in the centre of a city like Santiago,” said Amanda Bruna, a teacher from Santiago. “But women have to work, and where there aren’t other opportunities, they will always take these jobs. ”

Marcela Hurtado, an academic at Chile’s Austral University who has researched the cafes extensively, said: “These places often operate on the margins of the law, and the working conditions of the women are varied. The feminist wave might have changed how people thought about these establishments, but it’s hasn’t changed their essence,” she said.