On 13 December 2024, students at the National University of San Marcos in Lima queued for free Christmas breakfast and lunch. The event operated across four campus dining halls. Participants had to prove current undergraduate enrolment and present identification; a personal, non-transferable ticket then controlled access. The university distributed 1,910 breakfasts and 5,860 lunches, the latter beginning at 11 a.m.
Some students camped not merely overnight but for weeks. The first ticket holder at each site was honoured by the rector as a “legendary worm,” a campus nickname for the long line. At the main campus, a twenty-two-year-old law student waited fifteen days to claim ticket number one. A food-distribution mechanism had turned first place into a ceremonial title. The queue allocated meals, but it also became a semester-ending competition for recognition within the university community.