Beatriz Flamini, 50, says the experience of being cut off from the world is “superb, unbeatable”.
A Spanish mountaineer has emerged 70 meters underground from a cave where she spent 500 days isolated from the outside world.
Beatriz Flamini, 50, from Madrid, left the cave in southern Spain just after 9am after being told by supporters that she had accomplished the feat she set out to do on November 21, 2021.
Spanish media said the underground magic had set a new world record, but the claim could not be immediately confirmed.
Blinking and smiling as she hugged the well-wishers, Flamini’s first words included asking who would pay for a celebratory round of beers.
In brief comments to journalists, Flamini described the experience of being cut off from the world as “superb, unbeatable”. She then apologized as she needed a shower after not having had one in more than 16 months.
In 1987, Italian Maurizio Montalbini set a world record by spending 210 days in a cave. Internet research reveals reports of a Serb who spent more than 460 days underground in 2016.
Flamini’s pursuit was part of a project called Timecave, which was designed to study how someone would fare if they went underground alone for so long.
Flamini documented her experiences with two cameras and placed the footage at an exchange point in the cave, Spanish state news agency Efe reported. Her teammates dropped off groceries and other necessities at the retrieval site and picked up what she left there.
Beatriz Flamini is depicted in the cave during her daily life [Dokumalia Producciones/Handout via Reuters]
A group of Timecave psychologists, researchers, cavers, and athletic trainers studied the records but had no direct contact with her.
At a news conference later on Friday, Flamini said she felt like she was still living on the day she went down in 2021 and had no idea what had happened in the world since then, including Russia’s war in Ukraine. With no track of time, she said she stopped trying to count the days after calculating she’d been down there about 60 days.
Flamini said she never wanted to give up, not even during a fly invasion, which she cited as the source of her worst memories.
“Actually, I didn’t want to come out,” she said.
Flamini said she used the time “to read, to draw, to weave, to be, to enjoy. I’m where I want to be.” She admitted to missing certain things, but said, “That’s part of the project.” “There’s nothing to do but accept it.”
She apologized for tripping over her answers to questions.
“I haven’t spoken for a year and a half and it’s hard for me,” she said.
Noting that people were wearing face masks at the press conference, apparently to protect them from infection, Flamini joked that she felt like it was still the peak of the COVID-19 pandemic.