By VIVIAN SEQUERA and EVA VERGARA
Associated Press
COPIAPO, Chile – They’re treated like rock stars today, offered book contracts, movie deals and all-expense-paid trips to see their favorite soccer teams in Europe while demanding thousands of dollars for interviews.
A month after the remarkable end to their 69-day entrapment a half-mile deep in a collapsed gold and copper mine, Chile’s 33 rescued miners are reveling in what they know may be just a brief burst of the good life before fame and money fade and many, once again, return to the dark and dangerous mines.
“Most of us thought we were dead,” miner Daniel Herrera recalled in a conversation with The Associated Press. “I think that all of us now see our lives differently. We’ve got to live it.”