July 2004 - Plucky Woman!

Members at the July’s meeting at the Red Lion not only had a delicious menu (as normal) to enjoy but had new horizons and opportunities opened up to them.

Shirley Critchley retired from a full teaching career a few years ago, and was introduced by her daughter to the world renowned explorer/adventurer John Blashford-Snell. Exploration wasn’t one of Shirley’s top options to fill in her time once she stopped full-time teaching, however since her initial meeting she has been on several of Col.Blashford-Snell’s expeditions.

Her talk on July 6 th focussed on her recent involvement with Col.Blashford-Snell’s sixth expedition in Bolivia; which was to travel in traditional reed boats 3,500 miles from Lake Titicaca across the Andes into the Amazon Basin. The reason behind the experimental trip was that nicotine and cocaine have been found in Egyptian mummy remains, and the only source for these items in pre-historic times was from the region of modern day Bolivia.

Shirley was one of 35-40 expedition members and had the role of Community Aid Leader. Shirley particularly likes the opportunities expeditions give her to meet so many different types of peoples and backgrounds – including doctors; archaeologists, dentists and photographers.

The Community Aid team address needs in remote communities which are not normally met. As an example during the expedition the dentist took out 600 teeth in just two weeks!

Whilst on the trip Shirley spent 3 months sleeping in a zipped tent and came to love her own tent – it was the only place which was her own space. Although perhaps it wasn’t everyone’s idea of luxury, with a car sponge as a pillow and only a very thin inflatable mattress between herself and the basalt mountains. She was also able to enjoy the local fauna including bird eating spiders, vampire bats and anaconda river snakes; and at one stage she had over 100 insect bites on just one wrist!

During their journey to Lake Titicaca they encountered tropical rain forests; trees that walked up to two metres per year; old archaeological remains; abandoned gold and silver mines; and the remains of a dwelling where Hitler’s photographer had been in hiding since the end of World War II.

At Lake Titicaca the team collected their three boats traditionally made by a Bolivian family from Totara reeds, tied together and waterproofed by beeswax. Despite a few eventful happenings traversing the odd rapids the journey was completed successfully.

Shirley is now back in the UK and is busy giving talks to help her gain publicity and raise funds whilst recouping and regrouping ready for her next expedition.