Want to Live in Antarctica? Better Schedule an Appendectomy

While taking up residence in most towns is as easy as finding a place to stay, the requirements to live in Villa Las Estrellas—a Chilean town and research station in Antarctica—are a little bit stricter. In fact, you have to have surgery. Every person who stays in the town long-term has to have their appendix removed, according to the BBC.

Villa Las Estrellas is one of just two civilian settlements in Antarctica, located on King George Island. Most of the residents are scientists or members of the Chilean military, but some families do live there year-round. Located at the Presidente Eduardo Frei Montalva military base, the town is equipped with a school, a library, a post office, a radio station, a bank, a supermarket, and a few homes.

Many people only stay in Villa Las Estrellas during the summer, but for those few dozen people who live at the base all year, appendix removal is one of the terms of residence, even for children. That's because the nearest hospital is more than 600 miles away. While there is basic medical care on the island, any serious treatment requires making the long journey to the Chilean mainland.

A ruptured appendix is a life-threatening situation, and requires immediate surgery. That's hard to get when you're 625 miles away from the hospital. So as a precaution, Villa Las Estrellas residents get preemptive appendectomies.

Surgery is just one of many discomforts that must be endured as a resident of Antarctica. It's a place where the mean annual temperature is 27.8°F, and residents sometimes can't leave the house for weeks. During the winter, there are entire days when the sun is only up for a scant few hours, while in the summer it's barely ever dark. Fresh vegetables are a rarity. Oh, and dogs are banned. But at least there are a lot of penguins.