Five Hundred Days in a Cave!

 

by Pa Rock

Citizen Journalist

Spanish mountaineer and extreme athlete Beatriz Flamini was forty-eight-years-old when she entered the cave in Granada, Spain, on November 21, 2021, and she was fifty when she emerged last Friday, five hundred days later.  During that nearly year-and-a-half Ms. Flamini was monitored by a team of scientists, medical experts, and caving professionals who remained above ground, but she, herself, had no contact with anyone.  She was completely cut off from the rest of the world.

While Ms. Fanini was underground the world went on.   Russia invaded Ukraine, Queen Elizabeth of Great Britain became the only British monarch in history to hold the throne for seventy years - and then she died, abortion in the US lost its status as a constitutional "right," Will Smith slapped Chris Rock on national television, and Donald Trump was indicted on a couple of dozen felony charges in the state of New York.

She also celebrated two birthdays while underground, or would have if she had not lost track of time somewhere around day number sixty-five.  Ms. Flamini was asleep when her team came to get her last Friday and felt as though they must have been early because she did not think that the full five hundred days had passed.

But they had.

During those long days and nights underground - when it always seemed to be about 4:00 a.m. to her - the mountaineer/spelunker stayed busy knitting wool hats, reading sixty books, exercising, drawing, filming and taking photographs (for an upcoming documentary), and consuming one thousand liters of water.  She did not have water for bathing and was headed for the showers when she finally left the cave last week.

But the need for a shower did not dampen her enthusiasm over the project which Ms. Flamini had just completed.  The extreme athlete  described the overall experience as "excellent" and  "unbeatable."  She was exhibiting balance issues as she emerged and was being physically supported by members of her team.  She did talk about occasional auditory hallucinations in which her mind reacted to the never-ending silence by "making up" noises.   (In addition to not speaking with anyone above ground for the duration, Ms. Flamini also kept all of her own conversations with herself on silent mode out of respect for the cave.)

The cave dweller reported that she had suffered an intense craving for roasted chicken with potatoes at one point, and that she also had a vision of that meal.

On the negative side, she described one of the worst parts of the experience as having to deal with an invasion of flies which laid their eggs in the cave and then the larvae hatched while she was underground.  The onslaught of flies and their offspring clearly caused their roommate, Ms. Flamini,  much consternation.

Now that the adventure (or ordeal) is over, Beatriz Flamini will spend time being examined by doctors, scientists, and psychologists who are looking into the effects that long term isolation has on the brain and body, as well as the effects that a prolonged absence of natural light has on circadian rhythms.

All of that, and she still has a lot to catch up on!