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Published: October 14th 2010
My Plans
Ok, so almost 2 weeks ago now I got the news that
the Universidad de Atacama (UDA) has accepted me!! However I won't know until March if they will give me credit for the classes I did in the US, so I'm planning on going ahead with things and staying and see how things pan out if they give me credits or not.
As soon as I got word that I was accepted I started apartment hunting... and I've called 26 places and seen about 12... and it looks like we might have a winner!! It's all gone a bit fast, and I wasn't planning to start renting right away, but with some advice from locals and talking it over we decided that it's best not to let a great place for a good deal in a difficult market slip away.
The Miners
All 33 are above ground and doing well!! Since I got here, it's been pretty much all we see on the news. There have been constant updates, daily footage of them and camp Esperanza, and they are always running "get to know the 33" stories. During the rescue, it was
Libre!
(free)running live on almost all of the channels. Copiapo is practically a circus right now with all the media and crazyness here!
Although everyone has been excited for the rescue and relieved things went well, the rescue of the miners here has been surrounded by criticism... one problem as expressed by the Canadian oil drillers I met (who were working on plan C) is the media presence there. The guys said that having cameras in their faces all day (and night) was sometimes even interfering with the work! Many people have been saying that they should have taken all the media and all the extra stuff out and just let the men do their work and get the miners out without the complete circus. I have also heard rumors that they were ready to start the rescue Monday night, but waited to begin until the arrival of the president... Who knows if that's true but if so, I find it pretty ridiculous. The focus of all this should be the rescue of the miners, not to take pictures of the president and make nice documentaries!!
The other thing that I've been hearing on the news and in conversation
Mina San Jose 1
(photo thanks to my friend Cami who was there to see the miners come out) is concern for the rest of the miners that worked there, the ones that didn't get trapped. The 33 that are trapped are pretty much set once they get out, with generous gifts from the government, scholarships for their kids and paid vacation invitations from various countries, etc (and I bet you that Mario Sepulveda- the one usually seen leading the videos, will get his own TV show). However the rest that are on the outside, are out of work with no benefits! That is certainly not to say though that the 33 don't deserve what they'll be given.
All that aside, it's pretty cool to have been right here in the middle of such a historic and incredible event, hearing things first hand! We've been watching the rescue live on tv, and it's pretty emotional watching each miner come out and be reunited with his family. Mario Sepulveda was the 2nd out and
very entertaining as usual, he emerged with a bag of rocks which he went around handing out to important people such as the president, and then ran over to the crowd and pumped them up with a "CHI CHI CHI LE LE LE, MINEROS DE
Mina San Jose 2
(photo thanks to my friend Cami who was there to see the miners come out) CHILE!!" cheer! There were lots of jokes about the "doctor" of the group, a miner named Johnny Barrios being left as the last to come out seeing as awaiting him are both his wife and his girlfriend! However he was the 21st out, and the one waiting for him (chosen by each miner) was the girlfriend, so I guess we know his choice! It was pretty emotional watching a lot of the reunions and I can only imagine how incredible it was for each of those families.
Thanks to all the heroes that have been working day and night to get those miners out, there are 33 very happy families tonight! 😊
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Laura
non-member comment
papers!
Tam You should get some of those papers / magazines / whatever, with the stories about the miners coming out, and save them for your kids! And for me! I want to read them...