COPIAPÓ, Chile — José Ojeda can barely sleep without the comfort of a miner nearby to confide in when dreams shake him awake. Omar Reygadas, a great-grandfather more used to comforting than being comforted, cries easily. And Edison Peña, the miner who kept himself grounded by running miles underground most days, was hospitalized last week for emotional distress.
It has been 12 days since viewers around the globe watched, captivated, as one by one the 33 miners trapped in the San José Mine near here were pulled from nearly half a mile beneath the Atacama Desert. While the world has begun to move on, the men left behind are just starting to grapple with the enormousness of what happened to them.
They have, so far, remained mostly true to one another and the promises they made to speak only on their own terms.
Some details of the men’s ordeal have slowly slipped out, as many news organizations vied for their attention — flashing money or all-expense-paid trips to other countries to sit for interviews.