Meknes and National Park Ifrane

Between Bread, Garbage, and Monkeys

I am in the Medina of Meknes early. By ten o'clock, most shop doors are still closed. The first bread is being baked. I buy a small flatbread for five cents – still warm, delicious. The people here take it slowly. Only around noon does the Medina fill up, especially with women shopping for groceries.

One points to a chicken, one of many. It is still alive. The vendor grabs it by the neck, weighs it. A loud scream. Then slaughterhouse, plastic bag, everyday life. I am so stunned that I can’t take a picture. Instead, I go to the vegetable stand, buy something more out of motion than appetite.

An old man approaches me: “Are you from Germany?” Yes. “I worked in Stuttgart,” he says. “I am an artist, come, I will show you my shop.” He leads me to a forge and hands me over to his son. The usual sales routine starts. I can watch as he forges jewelry, get tea, and of course, I buy something. “Just for the help, just for the help,” says the old man. I smile and leave. 70 Dirhams, around seven euros. Not much for me. But here the average pension is 200 euros a month. You need three times that to live. So it can't be that wrong. I pay four euros for my vegetables – and can eat from that for two days.

This time I don’t get lost and continue on. I search for peace. The National Park Ifrane is ahead of me. There are supposed to be monkeys there. And yes, there are monkeys. At the entrance, vendors with horses offer peanuts and fruit for the Barbary macaques. The animals are trained to be around people. Fun for children – but not sensible. They are fed without hesitation, even at the roadside, where the monkeys cross the road. Dangerous. Nobody thinks about that.

The park itself: cedar and oak forests. Beautiful. Quiet. And dirty. Trash everywhere. Campfires still smoldering in the dry woods. I can hardly comprehend this. I, from clean Europe, with its many trash cans, regulations, order. There is none here. No trash cans. Not to mention waste separation. The Barbary macaques leap between the trees, pull empty soda bottles from the bushes, balance on branches – so lively, so out of place in this scenery. An ambivalent image. Like so much here.