Without knowing whether the outside world was aware of their plight, "los 33" spent seventeen days in isolation below ground, rationing their eating to two spoonfuls of tuna every other day. When they received the first contact from the outside, they scrawled a note in red marker and sent it to the surface in a ziplock bag: "Estamos bien en el refugio los 33".
The tenacity for survival in the mountains of Atacama's mining community is rooted in faith. Pictures broadcast around the world of Camp Hope, and the baby named Esperanza who was born during her father's captivity in the earth's entrails, gave the world a reason to smile as we received a couple day's worth of exciting and happy news. When backed by the grit and resolve of a team of brave and hard-working heroes, a little bit of hope goes a long, long way.
