The Souk (Weekly Market)

I was at the airport when the Jobins and Norah went to the souk, so this post features guest blogger, Marc Jobin…

This morning Ben and his brother-in-law Mustafa took the Jobins and Norah to the souk – the local market in Mohammedia that is open every Sunday.  It was about a 5 minute drive to the outskirts of town.  The roads were dusty and littered with garbage.  The main road was lined with vendors selling anything and everything you can image – old shoes, microwave ovens, drills, rubber buckets, watermelons.  It was almost like a giant flea market, but most everything for sale looked beyond used.  

Further down the road we turned into the main market which is in a large open space on the side of the road.  Each merchant has a tarp above their area and each is selling something different – spices in bins at one, vegetables at another, mint at another, dates and nuts, etc.  Stall after stall of things for sale.  Ben explained to us that most people in Mohammedia where his family lives go to the local butcher, produce market, etc. during the week.  However people from the countryside do not have a butcher, fruit stand, etc., so each week they come to the souk to buy everything they will need for the week.

As we walked further in we got to the livestock area where people were buying live animals (chicken, sheep, cows, etc.)  We did not go very far into this area before we realized that people were picking out their animals and they were being slaughtered and butchered on the spot.  We actually saw a man pushing a wheelbarrow full of “fresh” cow hides from animals that had just been killed.  Thankfully the kids did not notice this, but Norah did announce, “hey, I think I see a chicken with no head.”  We stopped by the cow butcher that Ben knows.  He was selling everything – all of the organs, the brain, the head – all on display.  Keep in mind that the temp was probably 80 degrees and this is all in the open air.  Incredibly eye opening and stomach turning all at once. 

All photos by Gia Jobin.