Day 3 – Sunday Run

As planned the day started at 6.30am with a 30-40 min run with my project sponsor and 3 other colleagues. The light to heavy rain did not deter the valiant team from jogging through a residential neighbourhood near our base, great opportunity to discover the area on foot at a time when traffic is low.

A hearty breakfast followed, with a gentle slide into lunch … it seems we’re a never ending feeding spiral. Grilled chicken with fried rice and plantain, delicious and too generous a portion.

Our hosts had organised a tour of Calabar so the team jumped into the minibus and drove around town. There is no defined city centre, rather landmarks scattered through the area. A couple points of interest:

First, the largest flag in Africa is in Calabar. We hopped off the minibus and started applying Pythagoras’s theorem, to various levels of precision.
Long story short Lindsey and I bet as to the size of the flag … the independent judge / tour guide declared the flag was 100 by 120 metres. From where I was standing though (which was probably only 2 metres away from Lindsey and our guide) I had a slightly different perspective and thought there was no way Usain Bolt needed 9.58s to run down that flag.
For the record the largest flag in Africa is indeed in Calabar, it is 14 by 20 metres long and hangs from a 60-metre flag pole :)

Second, Calabar as setup a museum dedicated to the story of slaves traded from Africa to the New World. The numbers are staggering: 20 million slaves were sold as trading goods, and these were the ones that survived the gruelling journey from remote locations to the port of Calabar, only 1 out 7 made it. Do the math and it is incredible to think 140 million people were abducted and displaced to be traded.
Sad story which deserves to be told. The museum was a good first attempt at telling this story and it will grow and evolve with Calabar.

All is well,