Milagro en la Mina

One story gripped most of the world today - the miraculous and amazing rescue of the 33 Chilean miners trapped underground for months. The fact that all of the trapped miners and all of their rescuers made it to the surface in good condition was a miracle. After all of that time, after all of that hardship, after all the things that could have gone wrong - this was truly an amazing human story.

Since last night, I have been transfixed by it, glued to the TV, watching whatever I could. I watched most of the coverage on the Spanish channels, free from most of the useless commentary on the U.S. cable channels (did we really need to know that Mario Sepulveda shares his name with a Los Angeles street?). Of all the channels, I found Telemundo the best because they were the one channel that stuck with the rescue, every minute, every miner, every rescue. Gracias Telemundo.

When I couldn't watch it on TV (i.e., during work), I tried to stream it online but mostly kept up via twitter (I follow a LOT of Spanish news sites) and blogs (I liked Guardian's coverage the best). When history is happening, it's not something to ignore, even when you're at work. Especially something as amazing as this.

I don't know much about mining. But it seems dangerous and treacherous, and it's clear that the conditions miners work in aren't the safest. One thing that was on my mind throughout the entire time they were trapped there, but which I didn't dare voice for fear of jinxing it (not that I think I can jinx the entire operation, but why add a risk?), was earthquakes. With all the earthquakes Chile had in the recent past, what would happen if an earthquake struck near the miners? With everyone working toward the goal of rescue, would they be trapped there if the earth shifted? It's too horrific to think about, and luckily it didn't happen.

There are so many images I won't forget from the rescue. The beat up capsule, every time it rose to the surface, saving another life. The scene inside the mine every time another person was loaded into the capsule, filled with hope. The rescue of the first miner, a milestone step, knowing that someone who had suffered for so long was finally free. The families and their emotional reuniting - you could feel the love, the worry, the relief. It's making me tear up writing about it! Miner #2, Mario Sepulveda, emerging from the capsule cheering and running around, as the paper said, as if he had won the World Cup. His enthusiasm and happiness were infectious and he made me smile through the tears. The miner who proposed to his long time girlfriend from underground and their long hug when they reunited. Trying to figure out whether Yonni Barrios was meeting his wife or his girlfriend when he got out. The last miner, the foreman, and the celebration when all 33 miners were rescued and safe.

So many things could have gone wrong in the rescue. What's most amazing is that, between all the miners and all the rescuers, nothing did. Everyone's fine. Everyone's more than fine -- they're out of the mine, they're with their families, they are back to their lives.

Milagro en la mina, indeed.