Meknes: Some Things are the Same Everywhere

Meknes is the twin city of Fes (both having been royal capitals for different dynasties in different centuries). We found Meknes to be quieter (read: less touristy) than Fes, and enjoyed a jitney ride around the city ramparts, past the Mellah (Jewish neighborhood), over to the enormous imperial stables where thousands of horses were once kept, and back to the gigantic main square of the city.

We also found a delightful shop, where four of the five of us purchased Berber rugs without feeling pressured into it. (Unfortunately, mine was the most expensive, but I love it.)

The most notable thing we experienced in Meknes, however, was a vicious catfight. We were shopping in one of the narrow streets of the medina when we began to hear women yelling and a rush of leather sandals on the stone street. A group of middle aged women, all with hijabs covering their heads and wearing lovely djellabas (full length hooded robes of silk or linen) came around a curve, screaming and chasing a younger, similarly-dressed woman. They were raining vicious blows on her head and shoulders, yelling "shuma, shuma!" or "shame, shame" and lots of other mean words that I couldn't quite make out. She looked terribly sad, bore the blows and did not fight back. Eventually, they tore off her headcovering and began to rip her djellaba, exposing her bra (quite shocking in this culture). Finally, when they banged her head into a wall (which we could hear from our distance of about 15 feet, where we cowered, stunned), other people began to intercede to stop the fight. As most people know, no matter how many times you see violence in media, the real thing is quite disturbing. (Bizarrely, after snapping photos so constantly as a tourist, my brain immediately contemplated taking a picture, but luckily just as immediately rejected this horrible instinct.)

Anyway, things settled down, and when we asked someone in our broken Arabic/English what had happened, he said "husband have one woman in house, one woman out of house." Same old story, just a different country! We slinked away, hoping that the aggrieved parties would not notice that their intimate and painful scene was witnessed by foreigners.

Off to bed now. More next week after Marrakesh, insha'allah.