There are so many incredible places to visit in this city. I wanted to take some time this summer to visit a few with the kids, so Susanne and I loaded them all in the Transmilinio and a taxi and we headed to this really cool, family owned/operated glass factory.
We had the pleasure of getting a personal tour of the warehouse where they make all the glass.
They take recycled glass from all over the city and melt it down in natural gas powered ovens, heating it over 1000 degrees celsius. Then, these big strong men, working long, hot hours, tenderly work the glass, blowing it and molding it into the most beautiful, yet also functional shapes and sizes of glassware.
I am pretty sure this warehouse would not have passed safety inspections elsewhere. The "ovens" were handmade out of scrap metal and brick. We were allowed to walk right by these ovens, and walk right through the production areas of the place.
Susanne and I were a little nervous, trying to keep the kids out of the way and out of the direct line of work, but we were right there in the middle of it. We commented that in so many ways it looked like a dance...like a beautiful, coordinated, creative dance right in front of us. A free, live performance unlike anything we have ever seen before.
We could have watched for hours and hours.
And that dance transformed broken city glass into these beautiful pieces of art.
We spent a long time walking through picking out our favorites.
We bought gifts for upcoming weddings and friends at home.
We left in awe, filled with stories of what really is possible to create.
Blessed be.
I always thought of those kind of glasses (of which we have some) as Mexican glass, so it's interesting to see it's made elsewhere too!
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