A Spanish woman, Beatriz Flamini, has emerged from a cave in southern Spain after spending 500 days isolated from the outside world, setting what Spanish media reports as a new world record. Flamini left the cave on Friday morning after supporters informed her that she had completed her feat, which began on 21 November 2021.
Spanish state news agency Efe has reported that Flamini had to leave the cave for eight days at one point because of a technical problem, although she reportedly spent those eight days in a tent without contact with anyone before returning underground.
After emerging from the cave, Flamini greeted supporters, blinking and smiling, before jokingly inquiring about who would pay for a celebratory round of beers. Flamini’s first comments to journalists referred to the experience of being cutoff from the world as “excellent,” but she was also keen to describe her need for a shower, having gone without one for more than 16 months.
Italian Maurizio Montalbini set a world record of 210 days in a cave in 1987, while reports of a Serb who spent more than 460 days underground emerged in 2016. Flamini’s feat is part of a project called Timecave, designed to study the effects of solo isolation underground.
Flamini documented her experiences underground using two cameras, which she left at an exchange point in the cave for her team to retrieve and return with necessary supplies, according to Efe. The reports also noted that Flamini’s team, which included psychologists, researchers, speleologists, and physical trainers, studied the footage of her living underground but did not have direct contact with her.
Flamini later noted at a press conference that she had no idea what had happened in the world since she descended into the cave in 2021, including the ongoing conflict in Ukraine, and that she felt as though she was still living in that single day. With no sense of time, Flamini stopped counting days after being underground for approximately 60 days.
Flamini stated that she never felt like giving up during any point of her isolation period, even during an invasion of flies that she described as her worst memory. “In fact, I didn’t want to come out,” she remarked.
Flamini reminisced that she had used the time to read, draw, weave, and enjoy, though she missed certain things, which “is part of the project.” She apologized for stumbling over her words, explaining that she had not talked to people for a year and a half. Flamini joked that, with people wearing face masks during the news conference, it felt like the height of the COVID-19 pandemic.