MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency

Sexy Santiago: “Coffee with legs”

North Americans take their coffee with milk or sugar. Europeans sometimes add chocolate, and the Irish have been known to add a healthy dose of whiskey to their morning or evening beverage. In Chile, however, coffee often comes with legs (café con piernas).

In Chile, however, coffee often comes with legs (café con piernas). Simply put, a café con piernas is a stand-up coffee bar where the servers are all beautiful, scantily clad women. In fact, according to Chilean connoisseurs (of both coffee and legs), the best coffee in Santiago can be found accompanied by legs. At least that is the claim of my guide Ricardo, a 30-year-old professional who works and lives a stone's throw from Cerro Santa Lucia. He always dresses to impress and nearly always insists on paying.

When I first inquired about what a café con piernas was (after reading about it in my guide book), the ordinarily subdued Ricardo literally jumped out of his chair and all but insisted that I go with him to visit his favorite ones. Being raised with a fairly strong sense of what qualifies as sexism, I had my reservations about what I was getting myself into. And I would be lying if I said that those reservations had dissipated entirely after seeing these places for myself and talking to some of the girls, as well as some owners.

While various sexist "themed" restaurants and bars exist everywhere in the world - Hooters in the US and the wild cabarets of Paris come to mind, - the cafés con piernas have proven to be a purely Chilean phenomenon. How these establishments differ from their foreign counterparts is perhaps the most interesting facet of this form of coffee shop.

First, no nights, no weekends. These businesses operate from 9 in the morning until 9 in the evening every weekday, and no later. According to Ricardo the busiest hours are in the morning. "Many come to drink their first coffee of the day," then as he glances at the busty young lady serving the next table wearing only a string bikini, "or their first five or six".

Next, no alcohol. These really are simply coffee shops which happen to be staffed by stunning women wearing next to nothing. Also, no cover, no doorman, and cheap coffee. These last three items are perhaps the most perplexing for a foreigner to wrap his mind around. Most anywhere else in the world, the kind of view provided in these cafes would cost a pretty penny and the drinks would certainly not be anywhere close to the rather affordable 700-900 peso coffees (US$1.50).

I was lucky to have Ricardo as my guide. I say this because it seemed like every spot we stopped at had at least one or two of Ricardo's "friends" working.

These women are some of the most remarkable I have yet to meet in Chile, and the stories they told me ranged from hilarious to heartbreaking. The general consensus amongst them was that the worst part of the job was over aggressive customers and the best was the pay. These women pull in something close to US$270 (150,000) pesos a week for 6 hours of work a day.

Jocelyn, one of the younger waitresses and also a mother, works as a dancer after her shift at ONLINE, one of many cafés in the Ahumada area. She was adamant that the worst thing about this job was, in fact, the shoes.

It's hard to argue with her, as most of the women sport three to five inch heels for the entirety of their shift. Milagros, a Peruvian waitress was more precise about the low points of the job. "Many people here in Santiago are so racist," she says as she motions to her Colombian counterpart. My friend often has trouble and that makes me sad." And then she pouts her lips. A confusing gesture, considering the severity of her comments, but in keeping with the constant flirtation that fuels the success of these places.

And here is where a lot of the rationale of these places becomes clear. I sat down with Marco Silva and Francisco Carrion, partners in Ikabarú, one of the most successful chains of café con piernas in Santiago.

After around ten minutes I can see how this business relationship works, Francisco reclines on a sofa while Marco sits at a desk cluttered with invoices, messages and an overflowing ashtray. Marco fields the majority of the questions with an accountant's precision.

"I have been involved in this business for 13 years, but it wasn't always like this," he says as he motions to the café above us. He explains how the original idea for café con piernas was hatched by a Venezuelan who started Café Haiti, a much more traditional and reserved shop with windows onto the street and more conservatively dressed waitresses who continue to serve Santiago's more timid and, according to Ricardo, elderly patrons.

Marco goes on to explain that five years ago things began to change with one place called Baron Rojo, where the girls began to where only bikinis to work. "Baron Rojo changed things, it changed the market and then the market changed us," said Marco.

As my questions stray towards issues of sexism and abuse, both Francisco and Marco provide a rapid fire list of reasons why these places aren't hurting anyone: "The girls decide what they want to wear (Francisco); The girls have the choice to go elsewhere, so we have to treat them well (Marco)."

As Marco leaves to attend to some pressing business, Francisco smiles and says, "The contract with the girls is the hardest part of the business, sometimes we have to play good cop, bad cop."

This paternalistic comment isn't the first or the last of the slights against women that the duo air during the interview. When I asked Marco about the existence of cafés managed by women, he dismisses the very idea. "They go broke because of bad management skills; you know about women and money."

Ricardo corroborates this sentiment when he tells me that the only men who work in the cafés take care of the coffee machines. "Women and machines can be messy," he explains.

It seems more and more incredible to me, the longer I speak to these two, that Michelle Bachelet was elected President here just six months ago, riding a wave of support from Chile's feminist movements.

Indeed some of the girls had things to say about la Presidenta.

Rosemary, a young education student working in one of Marco and Francisco's clubs is a clear supporter of her president. "She can work just as good as a man and the rights of women have advanced with her election," she said. She seems poised to say more, but is pulled away by an obligation to meet and greet some of her regulars.

It's hard to say whether there are the same problems in these cafés as are found in the seedier strip clubs of Santiago. Jocelyn cautiously spoke about some friends who had had trouble with the managers because they expected some "extra service" as she put it. But she refused to talk specifics and ended the interview not long after.

This kind of image provides a stark contrast to Francisco's vision of café con piernas being "like starbucks with legs, only in the center of town. If you can take a coffee break to relieve some stress, all the better. These girls are the best psychologists." While its tempting to believe that all the men who frequent these establishments are interested in advice about the direction of their lives, one has a hard time believing it's that easily explained.

Rosemary did mention that she would not be continuing at her current job for very long. "Many of the women here have children, get married and then are stuck?I don't want to do that." I asked her if men get in trouble with their wives and girlfriends for coming to the cafés. She smiled and winked, saying, "If you look, you don't cheat. It doesn't hurt anyone."

I wished Rosemary good luck as I tipped her as generously as I could, and left with her words echoing in my head. Does this distinctly Chilean form of ?looking' really hurt no one? Or is it more painful than Chile is ready to deal with?

(Ed. Note: A Santiago Times columnist takes an original look at Santiago's famed "coffee bars.") By Connor Timmons The Santiago Times - News about Chile