If you have already gone through your teenage years or perhaps you have a teenager of your own, you realize that things don’t always go as smoothly as they could. This is likely the case in your family in your part of the world, and it was certainly the case six years ago in Spain.
A teenager was upset with his parents but rather than take it out on them, he grabbed a pickax and went outside. He decided to let off some steam by digging his own man cave. That’s right, he was only 14 years old at the time but he was going to dig a cave where he could get away from it all.
Andres Canto is 20 years old now but he has something to remember his teenage years by. The area where he created his man cave is in southeastern Spain and it is big enough that it now has both a bedroom and a sitting room. The young man has become an actor and he knew that he was going through a difficult time. He even remembers why he was upset.
He said in the interview below: “My parents wanted me to change clothes to go to the village, but I wanted to wear the track suit, so I could mess around in the village. They told me I could not go out dressed like this, and I said: ‘No worries, I can entertain myself,’ and I went to the back of the property and started to dig a hole.”
At first, it was just a way to let off some steam but it soon turned into quite a project. He would take some time in the evening or after school to dig a few days out of the week and it even grew in scope when a friend brought a pneumatic drill and they started digging deeper. It wasn’t long before they had carved out a cave that was almost 10 feet deep and they were spending up to 14 hours a week doing it.
Canto has created quite a bunker for himself, and it now includes a bedroom, sitting room, heating system and he even uses his mobile phone for Wi-Fi. The music system allows him to enjoy his man cave and in his words, he has everything he needs.
Of course, there are some critters that get into the cave but it doesn’t seem to bother him. In his estimation, he destroyed their house so he allows them to build a new place in the walls.
This wasn’t necessarily something new for Canto. He has always enjoyed building little huts, and he has started building tree houses as well. It allows him to use his imagination in new ways.
He does get frustrated at times when he comes across a big stone, and at times, he would change the layout of the main cave depending upon what he found. The majority of the digging was done by hand using a bucket to carry soil out of the hole. Eventually, he used a pulley system to take things to the next level.
The cave has been reinforced using columns to hold up the vaulted ceilings and concrete walls to keep things from collapsing. He figures that he has spent about $60 on the project and he has created quite a viral event.
He posted the information about his man cave on social media and the local authorities found out about it. The Civil Guard got involved and somebody came to visit from the Environmental Protection Department to make sure everything was on the up and up.
There have been some problems from time to time, including floods when it rains, but all in all, it’s a project that has fulfilled his needs since he was a young teenager.