What does it feel like to live inside a cave for 500 days, surrounded only by darkness and silence? Beatriz Flamini, an extreme-adventure enthusiast from Spain, once experienced exactly that. She admitted that she felt mentally shaken at times, although she eventually chose to ignore those feelings altogether.
When discussing the wildest adventures in history, what Beatriz did is certainly one of them. On November 21, 2021, the 48-year-old woman descended into a cave 70 meters beneath the ground in Granada, Spain. She then remained there for nearly a year and a half. She entered the cave at age 48 and emerged at age 50.
When she was finally brought back to the surface, Beatriz expressed only reluctance. “I felt like I didn’t want to leave,” she said, explaining that nothing bad ever happened during the hundreds of days she spent underground.
“I thought it had only been around 160–170 days,” she added when asked what she had in mind when the team arrived to retrieve her.
Beatriz had decided to avoid all communication with the outside world. She depended solely on food and water supplies and survival equipment provided for her underground stay. She even asked not to be contacted—despite her parents passing away during her isolation.
There was absolutely no physical contact with other humans while she lived in the cave. The only connection was a video relay, which served as proof that she was still alive throughout the challenge.
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A World Record
Her time underground is likely a world record for voluntarily living inside a cave. Beatriz spent her days exercising, knitting, painting, working out, and reading 60 books. She also recorded a video diary for her documentary and drafted a book about her experiences, which she plans to publish.
“There came a time when I had to stop counting the days,” she said, explaining what went through her mind when boredom struck.
When her team finally arrived to escort her out of the cave, Beatriz was convinced that something terrible had forced them to change their plans.
“I’d been silent for a year and a half, speaking to no one but myself,” she said. “I lost my balance, that’s why they had to hold me.”
Without a doubt, much remains to be learned from Beatriz’s adventure—from “auditory hallucinations” to the swarm of flies that left her covered in tiny insects.
“I won’t say any more, because if I do, you won’t read the book,” Beatriz concluded as she ended the conversation upon leaving the cave. (Sulung Prasetyo)
