The Tent City Called Hope

Relatives had begun gathering at the mine entrance, sleeping in their cars. As days turned into weeks, friends brought tents, and the crowd grew into a settlement called Campamento Esperanza: Camp Hope. On a hill above the mine, families planted 32 Chilean flags and one Bolivian flag, one for each trapped man, with small shrines at their bases. María Segovia, whose brother Darío was underground, said no one would leave until the last miner came out.