Hope Gets Unearthed

A rescued miner prays in thanks for his miracle

It's a primal fear - being buried alive. It's been the subject of horror masters from Edgar Allan Poe to Stephen King.  And sometimes it happens in real life, as it almost did this time last year to 33 Chilean miners. But, in that case, the real-life horror story had a happy ending - an ending which is the focal point of an exhibit now at the Smithsonian Museum of National History.

Entitled Against All Odds: Rescue at a Chilean Mine, the exhibit details the dramatic, world-watched 69 days from the unexpected cave-in which trapped 33 miners to their safe October 13th return to the surface.

The Fenix

The exhibit highlights include the red, white, and blue rescue vehicle nicknamed Fenix (Spanish for the legendary creature of rising and rebirth the Phoenix), a copy of the bit used to drill the narrow escape passageway, models of thin pipes (called palomas) which were used to drop food and medical supplies to the miners, and the actual clothing some of them wore, as well as video clips and enlarged photos from the ordeal.

The exhibit is wrapped by a timeline in both English and Spanish, creating a significant incident by incident account of the harrowing adventure. For example, it is pointed out that those on the surface limited the miners to a 2,500 calories-a-day diet so they could remain thin enough to fit in the Fenix with its tiny 21-inch diameter.

For their part, the miners remained hopeful, but prepared for the worst. "I waited for death, but was tranquil," says Mario Sepulvedo. "I knew that at any minute the lights could go out, but it would be a dignified death."

But fortunately it was rescue, not death that came for Sepulvedo and his 32 fellow workers. It truly was, as President Barack Obama says, an example that "there's nothing we can't accomplish together."

You know, the Museum of National History is not that far from The Capitol Building. Maybe all our Democratic and Republican legislators should meet at the red, white and blue (the colors of the Chilean flag) Fenix and figure out exactly how to get our economy and our trapped American populace to rise once again.  If nothing else, the visit would remind them that you don't have to live in the doomed, damned world of Poe. Miracles can, and do happen.

Travelers' Tip:
If you would like to see this small, but powerful exhibition you do have some time. The exhibition, which debuted on August 5th, a year to the day that the miners became trapped, will remain open until May of next year.