1,800 miles to satisfy a craving: Meet the world’s most dedicated food-delivery guy
Subscribe to enjoy similar stories. ARLINGTON, Va.—-When Marciana Cabrera misses a home-cooked meal from her native Guatemala, she places an order for food delivery—from Guatemala. “Four, probably five times a year," says the 20-year resident of this Washington, D.C., suburb.
“And, of course, at Christmas." Her cravings this holiday season were for smoked mojarra, a fish from Guatemala’s Pacific Coast, piloy de frijole (red kidney beans) and xeca, jam-filled pastries popular in Quetzaltenango. The 8.5-pound order arrived at her apartment on a recent Thursday—a day after she placed it—at a price of $113. Cabrera’s was one of 44 orders delivered that day by Maik Chavez, 36, owner-operator of Maik Express of Sololá, Guatemala.
He’s part of a cottage industry of Guatemalans thriving as specialty couriers of goods (mostly food) ordered by the more than three million Guatemalans residing in the U.S. Chavez, assisted by his son, 13-year-old Kelvin, arrived shortly before dawn on a red-eye flight from Guatemala City to Washington’s Dulles airport. He cleared Customs quickly then crammed dozens of orders into a cousin’s cramped Toyota Corolla before making his first delivery just before 8 a.m.
By noon he had already delivered packages to 20 Virginia households, then turned north to Hyattsville, Md., to distribute the rest of his wares. “Coffee, candies, tamales, chicken, cheese and chilis," he said, a Santa checking his list while running his fingers down a spreadsheet of the day’s addresses. Most were within a single ZIP Code, often several on a single block.
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