This extraordinary bus was made several years ago by the late Maestro Bustos, a tinsmith from Cuenca. Bustos worked into his eighties, but was still able to create clever, often with fantasy elements, toys that delighted children and adults in southern Ecuador. Using recycled materials, Bustos made toys trucks, boats, cars, buses, marry-go-rounds, and other things found in Ecuador’s environment. This crudely crafted bus has a charm rarely found in manufactured toys. Bustos has complemented his tinwork with small portraits cut from magazines. Passengers entering and leaving the bus add a special dimension that mirrors that found on the streets of Cuenca.

Marion Oettinger, Jr., "Bus," The Folk Art of Latin America: Visiones Del Pueblo (New York: Dutton Studio Books in association with the Museum of American Folk Art, 1992), 78.