COPIAPO, Chile, Oct. 17 (UPI) -- Some of the 33 rescued Chilean miners are starting to talk but only to news media willing to pay for their stories about their two months trapped underground.
And some of those miners willing to talk without reimbursement are stingy in what they are willing to reveal, The New York Times reported Sunday.
Omar Reygadas, 56, told reporters he's had nightmares.
"But the worst nightmare is all of you," he said.
The newspaper said the men have said they had signed a pact not to divulge details about their ordeal but there are cracks in that wall of silence.
Carlos Mamani, 24, the only Bolivian among the 33 miners, has been charging for interviews and is considering a job offer from Bolivian President Evo Morales, his wife Veronica Quispe told the Times.
"We're poor -- look at the place we live," she said. "You live off our stories, so why can't we make money from this opportunity to feed our children?"
The newspaper said the miners have been asking $40 to $25,000 or more for interviews. Some are being offered trips overseas.
Jessica Chilla said her husband Dario Segovia "is charging for interviews as compensation."
"He is physically and psychologically exhausted and will not recover for at least a month," she said. "He will not give interviews for free, not now or later."
Yonny Barrios, 50, said he "lost hope several times" in the days before rescuers learned they were all alive. "But I had God to speak with," he said. "I can't really say much more."
Mario Sepulveda, 40, gave The Mail on Sunday details about what the men experienced -- being pitched into darkness when the batteries on their helmet lights wore out, realizing escape ladders were far too short, unsanitary conditions and frayed emotions that led to crying jags by some men.
But he denied rumors some had engaged in sexual relations."No, nothing like that ever went on," he said.
"There were fistfights," The Guardian of London quoted Daniel Sanderson, a miner on the surface, as saying.
