A day in the Chilean desert when anything seems possible

It was a magnificent sight to see. Shy and exhausted Florencio Avalos breathing the fresh air he must have thought he would never breathe again and bear-hugging the men who had brought him to the surface in one piece.

As the escape capsule painted in patriotic red, white and blue cleared the top of the rescue shaft, the cheer that went up over Camp Hope might have been heard half-way to the moon.

A cloud of balloons filled the freezing Chilean sky and as Mr Avalos stepped out his smile was as wide as the Atacama desert.

One by one, the miners are rejoining their loved ones, watched by a proud nation and the rest of the world.

Each time the Phoenix escape capsule completes another one of its painstaking journeys to the surface, there is a growing sense of certainty that all 33 will eventually pull off this greatest of escapes. But the men behind the rescue, led by Laurence Golborne, the ice-cool Chilean mining minister, are at pains to stress that they aren't out of the woods yet. The operation can't be called a success until all of them are back at the surface, together with Manuel Gonzalez, the rescue worker who was lowered down to oversee the operation.

In the days and weeks to come, no one knows how these humble working men will cope with the pressures of instant fame.

But for now, hope reigns. Even the most intransigent problems seem capable of being solved. Chile's president Sebastian Piñera invited Bolivian premier Evo Morales to share in the occasion by greeting the sole Bolivian among the miners, Carlos Mamani, at the surface.

Their two countries have been at odds for decades. But it seems that the leaders have now gone at least some way towards burying the hatchet.

For this is a time when anything seems possible.