A trip to the post office is usually boring at best, and aggravating at worst, if there’s a long line. Things are different at the Penguin Post Office.

This incredibly remote mail hub can be found in Port Lockroy on Goudier Island just off the coast of Antarctica. Operated by the United Kingdom Antarctic Heritage Trust, its small but dedicated team of employees greet the 18,000 tourists that visit the island via cruise ships every year. They also live and work alongside over 3,000 gentoo penguins. The office is located right next to one of the birds’ favorite nesting sites. While the staff greets visitors and places stamps on the thousands of postcards they process annually, their fine feathered neighbors keep themselves busy by fishing and taking care of their young.

The complex that houses the post office first opened as a research station in 1944 but was abandoned in the ’60s. In 1996, it reopened after an extensive series of renovations. It now contains science facilities, the post office, and a small museum that are all open during Antarctica’s “summer” months—from January through April before the continent’s notoriously frigid weather takes its annual turn for the worse.

People who have worked there say that the penguins typically keep to themselves but they make a big mess. The walkway that leads from the dock to the post office has to be cleaned almost every day. Plus, the smell of penguin poop can be overwhelming at times.

By one estimate, 70,000 postcards are mailed to over 100 countries from Port Lockroy annually. In case you were wondering, they can take anywhere from two to six weeks to reach their destinations since express delivery is a bit tough to pull off from down there.