When you find a place to live, often the only rules you have to follow are state and federal laws, but there are some neighborhoods that also have their own sets of regulations for residents. It might be a homeowners association that requires grass to be kept at a certain length or that cars are only parked in driveways. However, one town has a much more serious rule residents have to abide if they want to live there: you and everyone in your family living with you has to have their appendix removed.
If you want to live in Villas Las Estrellas, that’s what you must do, no matter your age, but it’s for a good reason – the town is one of very few in Antartica. Since there are just a few doctors and no specialist surgeons there, and because the closest major hospital is 625 miles away across the Southern Ocean, as a precaution, anyone staying in town long-term has to get the operation. Otherwise, an appendix bursting could be deadly.
It isn’t the only extreme rule – becoming pregnant is also discouraged for similar reasons. In addition, dogs aren’t allowed in town because they could spread diseases to the local wildlife.
There are currently about 100 people living there, mostly scientists and personnel with Chile’s air force and navy, but many of those residents brought their families with them. Villas Las Estrellas also boasts a post office, a small school, a bank and other necessities to make people feel comfortable in town, where the yearly temperature averages 27.8 degrees. However, it can go down to -50° or even colder, like -170°. In fact, the town gets so frigid that residents are required to stay indoors during the cold season because they could freeze to death.
Life in Villas Las Estrellas can be fun though – penguins, which have never been hunted by humans there, come up to the area without fear. Living there is said to be an experience unlike any other, plus there is plenty of skiing and snowmobiling to keep you busy (so long as it is “warm” enough).
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