The Spanish climber spent 500 days at the bottom of the cave. All - for the sake of experiment

Once on the surface, she admitted that she did not want to return. Here is her story

The Spanish climber Beatrice Flamini spent 500 days underground - and voluntarily. Flamini took this step for the sake of a scientific experiment, thus giving scientists the opportunity to explore how social isolation and disorientation affect the work of the human brain. Reuters spoke about the life of Flamini in a cave at a depth of 70 meters. "Medusa" retells this material.

“When they came for me, I slept. I thought something happened. She asked: “It's already time? Of course not. After all, I have not finished my book,” Beatrice Flamini told reporters. A 50-year-old Spanish climber who has lived the last 500 days in a cave at a depth of 70 meters near the city of Granada in southern Spain.

Flamini is a participant in a scientific experiment to study the human mind and circadian rhythms . She was 48 when on November 20, 2021 she went down to the cave. There, the climber was when the last covid restrictions were removed in Spain, Russia began a full -scale war in Ukraine and the Queen of Great Britain Elizabeth II died.

Flamini lifted to the surface of April 13, 2023-she took her path for eight days. Having met with reporters, she admitted that she had never thought about the early termination of the experiment. Moreover, she did not want to return and after its end.

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Sports exercises, drawing and knitting - Beatrice Flamini was engaged in all this underground. She took the GoPro camera with her to document what was happening. At first, Flamini told, she tried to keep an account of time. But already on the 65th day she left this venture.

All the time of the experiment, Flamini tried to focus on maintaining calm, good nutrition and silence. The climber was impatiently awaiting the parcels that the support group sometimes lowered her from the surface (in return, the athlete sent garbage upstairs). Most of all she was pleased with avocado, fresh eggs and clean T -shirts. According to the calculations of the support group, Flamini read 60 books in 500 days and drank a thousand liters of water.

To communicate with the climber all this time, the support group was strictly prohibited. Even if questions arose regarding the health and life of her loved ones. “I did not talk to myself out loud, but I had internal conversations, and I got along with myself,” Flamini joked. Some points, she admitted, was not easy for her - for example, when flies were hung out in her cave. “But if this is your dream [to participate in the experiment] and you understand this, why do you need to cry?” She said. And she added that her feelings must be realized: “If you are afraid, this is something natural. But you can’t panic, otherwise it paralyzes you. ”

The state of Beatrice Flamini in the cave was remotely observed by psychologists, researchers, cave specialists and coaches. On the example of climbers, they studied how social isolation and disorientation can affect a person’s perception of time, the work of his brain and sleep.

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According to the Guinness Book of Records, the reward “For the Long Love underground” was awarded to 33 miners from Chile and Bolivia, who spent 69 days under the rubble at a depth of 688 meters in 2010.

Beatrice Flamini's support team notes that the climber has broken this record. But the representative of the book of records could not quickly answer Reuters to reporters, whether there is a separate award - for voluntary stay underground - and whether it deserved its flaminals.

She herself admitted that now she most of all wants to take a shower and share a plate of fried potatoes with an egg with her friends.

Christina Safonova retold