Kathleen Martínez is – in one word – impressive. She graduated law school at 18 and has a career as a criminal lawyer in her native Dominican Republic. When she moved to Spain so her husband could study cardiology, she grew restless taking care of her first child. So she decided to get a masters in finance. And after the birth of her second child, she earned another masters degree, finally diving into her first passion: archaeology.
"From a very young age, I recall wanting to be an archaeologist, but my parents discouraged me from pursuing my interests seeing as how there was no archaeological precedent in the Dominican Republic," she told PBS. "They urged me to study a career that was attainable in my country, and so I did." But she never stopped trying to learn about archaeology in her spare time. At 15, she began studying Cleopatra and became captivated by her last days.
So in 2002, she planned a trip to Egypt and contacted the government to gain access to temples not open to the general public. No one responded, but she decided to go anyway. What followed is a stranger-than-fiction story. At the airport, immigration officials detained her for hours because they thought her passport was fraudulent. Eventually, officials instructed her to get into a van that would take her to her hotel. Frightened, she ducked into a shop and insisted that she get a Spanish-speaking guide, despite speaking English. It's a choice that worked out for her better than she could have expected. Her guide knew the scheduling secretary for the Egyptian Minister of Antiquities.
600 artifacts later, she's currently on a break from work. But she'll be back at it in November. This time, she's sure she'll finally find Cleopatra's tomb. She's had a successful run so far, but it hasn't been without complications. At the beginning, she self-funded part of this project. But once she started making discoveries, she began gaining support. And a few years ago, the Arab Spring brought destruction to some sites.