There is a Correos de Chile post office[7] staffed in the summer by a postal worker and by the command of the base in the winter. The office receives all its mail from Punta Arenas and is the mail depot and relay station for all mail addressed to any Chilean installation on Antarctica in addition to some other foreign facilities. From here it is delivered by hand, plane, or helicopter. The post office is also an attraction for tourists and philately enthusiasts that travel to the town to send postcards and letters with an Antarctic postmark.
The town is in the Piloto Pardo census district.
Community
The people of Villa Las Estrellas live in a community that has fourteen[8] 90 m² (970 sq. ft.) homes. Juan Pablo Camacho, the first Chilean born in the Antarctic region, was born at Villa Las Estrellas in November 1984.[4]
Education
F-50 "Villa Las Estrellas" School, a 1st–8th grade primary school staffed by two teachers that are responsible for providing education for the community's children, operated for 33 years until 2018, during which it educated over 300 children.[9][10][11] As of 2014, there were 6 students.[9] Library[7] No. 291 has a collection of books and magazines that are available upon request.
Healthcare
There is a Chilean Air Force Hospital staffed with one doctor and nurse[6] and equipped with X-ray, laboratory, surgery, anesthesia machine, sterilizer, and pharmacy services in addition to limited emergency and surgery capabilities. Two hospital beds are available in addition to a dental clinic.[12] Through a partnership with the Chilean Antarctic Institute and the University of Chile, in emergencies, medical images can be outsourced to specialized health centers in South America and Europe for diagnosis.
As of 2018[update] all residents, including children, are required to have their appendixes removed before coming to Villa Las Estrellas as a safety precaution, as healthcare services are limited.[13]
Telephones: Telephones for the base and their airfield operate via satellite telephone and, for the inhabitants of the sector, there is a coin-operated pay phone and prepaid cards.
Internet: There are computers at the school that have internet access.[7]
Radio: Radio Soberanía [es] (Sovereignty) broadcasts on the frequency of 90.5 MHz[15] during the day, providing music and information to all the bases in the area. Certain cultural and entertainment programs made by staff and their families are also disseminated.
Television: The town has a fixed dish of 2.5 meters in diameter, which allows reception of live signals from the main television channels in the country, broadcasting from Santiago. Residents can also receive two broadcast stations. These are Televisión Nacional and Universidad Católica Television.
Villa Las Estrellas. View to the bay from the rear.
Climate
According to KöppenET, Villa Las Estrellas has a marine polar climate; i.e., winter temperatures are typically milder than other, comparably well-populated, arctic or near-polar regions (especially inland areas), such as parts of Alaska, Canada, Greenland, Iceland, Russia and Siberia, or northern Norway, Finland, or Sweden. However, the summertime conditions of the aforementioned locales are generally known to be muggy, warm, humid and wet, with millions of biting flies and mosquitoes swarming; by comparison, during the brief summer season, conditions in Villa Las Estrellas are considerably more tolerable and forgiving. However, during winter, the area is, in effect, just barely above freezing, which causes the climate to be hostile to the human inhabitants. Sunshine levels also become extremely low, leading to potential vitamin D deficiencies or depression. The yearly mean temperature of −2.3 °C (27.9 °F) is, still, quite gentle for the Antarctic, and milder than many places with vegetation.
Chile
Magallanes y Antártica Chilena
