Sayanora Tor.

By Machete

Smoke billowed from the engine filling the entire bus with smoke as we were driving into Puerto Lopez earlier this morning.

"Stop the bus." We all cried.

Alex pulled the bus over on the side of the road. Everyone filed out of the bus. Alex and I lifted the engine cover and smoke hit us right in our faces. We had no idea what was wrong. We only knew that the engine was hot.

"I think I will leave now." Tor said. His shit was already packed. Tor had to return to Quito because his new passport had arrived. It just so happened that the bus broke down a mile from the city where he had to catch his bus.

Tor was robbed three times in Quito. He had been all over the world but Quito was the place where his luck ran out. The first robbery, he had a gun put to his head, yet The second robbery was the most detramental to Tor´s trip.

He stood on a corner with his big pack on his back and his small pack in front. He tried to hail a cab to the Airport. He was supposed to be flying to Lima. All of a sudden, wabash. Tor´s head was covered in shit. He thought a bird had shit on his head, but Tor thought wrong. He placed his small bag on the ground in front of him when some man tapped him on his shoulder and asked what was all over his head. And in those ten seconds someone else grabbed his little pack filled with all sorts of goodies, his camera, laptop, passport and other valuables.

The guy ran and jumped on the bus. Tor quickly signaled a police officer.

The officer said, (I paraphrase now) "Son, you got human shit all over your head."

The officer stopped the bus and Tor and him looked for the bandito. The bandito bolted through the closing doors of the bus and headed through the park.

The reflexes of the officer were fast but not fast enough. The officer picked up his radio signaling the motorcycle cops to start their bikes. Next, Tor, with his head still covered with Shit, and the officer were speeding through the park while the bike cops scattered looking for the bandito.

The bandito outwitted Tor and the cops. The sly criminal escaped the grips of the Ecuadorain judicial system.

Tor eventually cleaned the shit off his head and stayed in Quito for three weeks where he met us and found out about the train.

The third time was not as dramatic as the second, but it was funny none the less. He was drunk one night and got jumped by some fifteen year old hoodlums. He had nothing left, so all they got from him was a package of gum.

Tor shook my hand and said, "Zach, thank you for a good trip. Good Luck on your travels." I shook his hand and said good bye.

Tor was a good gypsy, an original gypsy. He set the bar high for gypsies to come. It was a sad moment today. The first of the original cast to leave the train. He proved to me that not all Norwegians are pussies. I have seen many men drink, and I will say that he was up there with the best of them. He has so much passion and intensity for the hops. I appreciate that. Thank you, Tor. The train won´t be the same without you.

After Tor left, Alaena and Alex walked to find a mechanic and I stayed with the Bus. Within minutes some mechanic from town was on the job.

In another ten minutes, Alaena and I were pushing the bus down a hill to the mechanics shop.

"I wish someone could take a picture of this" she said.