When Andres Canto was 14 years old, he got into a minor argument with his parents when they told him he couldn’t go to the local village in a track suit.
In response, he stayed at home and grabbed his grandfather’s ax, and used it to dispel his frustration by angrily attacking the ground in the garden.
But Andres’ terrible behavior becomes a strange obsession, and six years after this 20-year-old first started he has created his very own underground cave, with steps leading deep into a structure consisting of a living room and a bedroom.
Andres, now an actor, says he has no idea what initially sparked the idea of using his frustration to dig a hole in his family’s home in the town of La Romana, Spain, but he started to use it as a way to calm down. In the evenings after school, he digs it by hand several days a week.
The project climbed a few gears when his friend Andrew brought an air drill, and the couple spent up to 14 hours a week digging nearly 10 feet into the ground in his parent’s garden.
The layout of its retreat is often delineated by obstacles in the way of the project. He said, «Sometimes I come across a big stone and it can be frustrating after hours of digging that I have done almost nothing.»
The soil was originally removed by hand using buckets, but as Andres delved deeper, he began to study digging techniques and then developed a pulley system to transport the debris to the surface.
When he began creating the rooms, he cemented the ceilings using arched doorways and vaulted ceilings with reinforced columns to prevent potential collapse, UK Mirror Reports.
It is estimated that the project cost him a total of 43 pounds (50 euros).
Andres plans to expand even further, as the cave currently has two rooms, a heating system, Wi-Fi his phone provides for transmission from the cave entrance, and a music system.
The underground retreat provides a great place to relax in summer, with Andres explaining that it stays steady at 20 or 21 degrees in the hottest month of the year. However, he adds that they sometimes flow during heavy rains and often attract insects, spiders, and snails.
He says his parents were okay with the construction – but the authorities visited them to make sure it was legal, and found no problems as it could not be defined as a basement, extension, or storage structure.
Andres said, «It’s cool, I have everything I need. Working here might be a tiring as it’s wet and there’s not much air, but I found an incentive to keep digging every day.»
I have always loved building little huts. I live in the countryside, and many times when I find abandoned firewood there, I have been building a beautiful house.
«I was a kid with a lot of imagination.»
What do you think of the underground cave? Let us know in the comments.