Kidnapped in the Sierra

The Mina de la Encarnación was an abandoned subterranean silver and lead mine perched two thousand meters above sea level on the northern slopes of the Sierra Morena, near the desolate border of Extremadura. Abandoned in the late nineteenth century when the mineral veins were exhausted, the complex consisted of decaying wooden headframes, collapsed tailings terraces, and a fortress-like stone administrative lodge built from heavy granite blocks to withstand winter…