My morning spent with Jose selling newspapers was pretty crazy, but my day only got even more ridiculous. After lunch, I was supposed to follow another child laborer into the cemetary for work. Instead, a fellow union member (Cesar) requested that a few of us help film his brother´s music video! Absolutely nothing about the afternoon was normal, but it was all incredible...
It began to hail as Monika, Evi, and I (¨the video girls¨) walked to meet up with the band in the ¨music district¨of Potosi. We were led into a run down house/studio, and escorted down a few crumbling brick hallways and into a basement bedroom full of bolivian guys. Thank god there were three of us-afterall, there is strength (and comfort) in numbers; by that time we were begining to wonder what we had gotten ourselves into! The bedroom was plastered in posters of every possible genre: Jesus Christ was featured right next to a scantily-clad Brittany Spears, just opposite of Marilyn Manson. Avril Lavine, Shakira, Iron Maiden, and a few mariachi bands were also prominately featured, hovering just above a Tweety Bird beach towel and few stuffed valentine bears. Honestly, it was the weirdest-and most ridiculous- environment Ive ever been in.
As we waited for the filming to begin, Cesar entertained us by playing us some bolivian techno music on his electric drums. Monika whipped out her harmonica (which, obviously, she had conveniently in her raincoat pocket...) and added her own rythm to the music. For the next hour, we continued our culturally-confused jam session, and it was pretty awesome, and ridiculous.
Finally the filming began. Monika was chosen as the main girl in the video ¨porque es mas baja,¨(because she is the shortest). Once we saw the lead singer (and star of the video), we understood: Monika is barely 5´1¨ and she towered over him by a few inches, at least! But the height gap was nothing compared to the age gap. The man is pushing 45 years old. It was ridiculous. I could barely keep a straight face during the filming as he and Monika had to hug and hold hands.
After filming a few scenes in the house, one guy told us to get in his car so we could drive to the center of the town. Super sketchy...Especially because his car is one of those unmarked taxis that tourists are always being warned about! But, trusting Cesar, we got in an everything was fine. Actually, driving around to film scenes in different parts of town was an awesomely unique way to experience Potosi. Crammed together in the backseat, all we could talk about was how crazy our situation was: being driven around by a strange bolivian band to act in their music video! Do I even need to say it? Ridiculous.
In the end, Evi and I got to make our appearance in the video: Evi as the ´new love interest´(sitting down, of course, due to the height difference), and I as Monika´s friend. I hope the compile the video soon, because I cant wait to see it. Maybe I will see my face in the bolivian music videos they play on the long bus rides; if it is completed in time, there is a good possibility I will!
The whole experience was so surreal. It honestly felt like we were in a dream. It was so strange to follow a band around the city as a video entourage. It was simply unique and totally awesome. And ridiculous.
As if selling newpapers in the morning and staring in a music video in the afternoon wasn´t enough: Our instructors ordered pizza to our hostel for dinner...and they ordered half a veggie pizza with no cheese, just for me! Talk about a great day.
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