The freed Chilean miners received a rapturous welcome home this evening after leaving the hospital in Copiapo where they had spent the two days since they were winched to freedom. Relatives and neighbours cheered and threw confetti as the first of "los 33" returned as celebrities to families they thought they would never see again.

Edison Pena, 34, a triathlete who ran six miles a day in the mine's tunnels to burn off stress, appeared dumbstruck by the raucous greeting from friends and family. "I didn't think I'd make it back, so this reception really blows my mind. We really had a bad time."

Another miner, Juan Illanes, 52, gazed through dark sunglasses in wonderment at his own welcome home party. "This is really incredible. It hasn't sunk in."

Lilianette Ramirez, whose husband Mario Gomez promised her a church wedding in a "Dear Lila" read by the president on TV, said the date had been confirmed: "If God and the Virgin desire it, we'll get married on 7 November, his birthday," she told reporters as she left the hospital.

Despite the ordeal at least two of the men said they planned to continue mining. "Of course. We have to keep working. This is part of our trade," Osman Araya, 30, told local television. Alex Vega echoed the sentiment. "I want to go back. I'm a miner at heart. It's something in your blood."

Gifts and invitations to visit Greece, Graceland, Manchester United and Real Madrid, and more, flooded in. Fifa reportedly offered Franklin Lobos, a former footballer, a job as a motivational speaker.

A media bidding war for the miners' stories got underway with US TV networks, British tabloids and German magazines said to be offering thousands of pounds for exclusive interviews.

Having answered journalists' questions for two months, some families said it was time to cash in. "It's logical. The media is earning a lot of money through us so we should get something too," Brunela Avalos, the wife of Renan Avalos, told AFP.

Relatives confirmed that the men had agreed a pact – and hired an accountant – to withhold some parts of their story and to pool income from media interviews. Even so, details leaked out of how the men survived history's longest mining shift.

In the first few days after the collapse the group burned tyres, honked horns and set off dynamite to try to alert people above that they were alive, according to a letter Raul Bustos, 40, wrote to his wife.

It almost worked: one rescue worker told colleagues he heard horns honking from deep in the San José mine, but colleagues dismissed the idea and said "that is the sound of the dead miners' souls".

Nevertheless boreholes continued to be drilled and 17 days after the accident, when the men were nearly starving, a probe reached their dungeon. The note they attached confirming they were alive triggered celebrations across Chile.

Luis Urzua, the shift foreman who has been hailed for his leadership in keeping the men organised, had a white pickup truck. Several vehicles were crushed in the collapse but more than a half dozen remained in working condition.

Urzua, a topographer, used the hood of the pickup to lay out maps as he sent men to measure and sketch drawings of the new dimensions of their underground existence. He used the cab to create a physical place for his belongings and also to maintain a sense of order and structure.

The vehicles also served as an escape from the damp floor where the men slept on wet cardboard. The constant gurgle of water and 98% humidity made sleep difficult. The flat parts and bays of the trucks provided slightly better conditions.

All important decisions were put to a vote but several figures, in addition to Urzua, became leaders. One key figure in the group's dynamics was Jose Henriquez, 54, a drill master and evangelical preacher who was named the group's official "pastor". Henriquez brought calm, God and unity to the most difficult moments, said Bustos. "He was a leader without a doubt."

Speaking to the Guardian from a hospital bed where he fingered a wooden cross hung from his neck, Bustos said he survived February's earthquake but lost his job in the tsunami that followed and migrated north in search of work, ending up in the San José gold and copper mine.

When it collapsed the engineer went to work immediately, planning a series of canals and ducts to shunt water away from the men's sleeping areas. Bustos, together with the help of the young Bolivian, Carlos Mamani, used an extensive network of water piping to rig a basic plumbing system which allowed waste to be flushed from the lowest part of the cavern and sucked underground.

Within days, the men said, they were forced to drink industrial water which corroded their stomachs. It was water stored in barrels for dynamiting operations, not human consumption. It tasted like oil.

A cascade of water several hundred metres above became known as "la ducha", the shower, and the men would bathe there, often using one of the vehicles that survived the initial collapse.

Manuel Gonzalez, the first rescuer to descend in the capsule, was appalled by the conditions he encountered. "I was down there 25 hours in temperatures of 40 C," he told state TV. "There was almost 100% humidity. I imagine the first 17 days when they didn't know anything … it must have been terrible."

A veteran of the state mining company Codelco, which has a good safety record, he condemned the conditions in San José: "It didn't even have basic elements." San Estaban, the company which owns it, is under investigation and effectively bankrupt. The government is also under scrutiny for lax enforcement of safety regulations.

Another rescuer, Jorge Bustamante, said the miners were disciplined and controlled their anxiety as they awaited their turn in the capsule. "Some covered up their nerves by shouting and singing as they went up."

Urzua, the foreman, gave the rescuers a guided tour of the tunnels and improvised facilities including dormitories and a dining table. The rescuers noted that some of the miners had written messages on the walls.

Gonzalez, also the last man up, played down his much praised bravery and said he was merely one link in a chain. He started to read a book left by one of the miners as he awaited his own turn in the capsule. Before leaving he had a human impulse to flick off the lights. "I wanted to turn off the lights but they wouldn't let me."