Researchers Natalia “Natu” Mestre Silva and Luis Muñoz Gaete married on October 2 at the Professor Julio Escudero Base of the Chilean Antarctic Institute (INACH). They work at the Isotope Analysis Laboratory of Andrés Bello University’s Viña del Mar campus.
The ceremony was the first wedding in Antarctica in 16 years and the sixth marriage on Chilean Antarctic Territory. Two marriages took place in 1981, followed by one each in 1988 and 1990, and the most recent before this one in 2010.
The geologists have been working at Escudero Base since March as part of Chile’s National Antarctic Science Program (PROCIEN). They are scheduled to return to the continent in November. The ceremony was led by Chilean Air Force officer Carlos Reyes Urrutia, commander of the President Eduardo Frei Montalva Antarctic Air Base.
