The 10am ticket giveaway

Went shopping around this morning, for a ticket on a night bus north to Trujillo. Got to the terminal of a company called Linea at 9:45am, and was given some hilarious news. Their 9pm bus to Trujillo was booked out for tonight: but they had 5 reserved seats that hadn't yet been paid for; and if nobody came and paid for them by 10am, they'd give them away first-come first-serve. So I took the advice of the guy at the desk, and waited for 15 minutes. By 10am, two reserved seats had been claimed, but the other three were up for grabs. I grabbed one of them, fast.

Very strange system that they have here — but I guess it's relatively normal, as "systems" in this part of the world go. Apparently, every morning they get a mob of people coming in just before 10am, to try and grab any unpaid-for reserved seats on the bus to Trujillo. I didn't know about this occurrence: I was just very lucky, to stumble into the right place, at exactly the right time! Of course, they have other buses to Trujillo: but they're much more expensive, since they're semi-cama and cama services, and they never sell out; everyone wants the cheap and very basic 9pm service.

So, tonight I'm off to Trujillo! I'm going with Linea, because unlike some of the other companies (e.g. Movil Tours, the guys that I came to Huaraz with), they also have buses every hour (from 6am onwards) from Trujillo to Chiclayo. Since I don't want to stop in Trujillo — I want to go straight on, further north to Chiclayo (everyone says that Chiclayo is nicer, and I don't really have time for both of them) — this suits me perfectly. Unfortunately, nobody has buses direct from Huaraz to Chiclayo — you have to connect in the big city of Trujillo. Oh well, at least I can make my connection with the same company, at the same terminal in Trujillo.