'Mango, Mango!' A Family, a Fruit Stand, and Survival on $4.50 a Day

It’s seven a.m., and we’re stuck behind a cart hauled by a man named Carlos, whom Dayani has hired to bring fifty pounds of mangos, a crate of bananas, and several watermelons to her fruit and drink stand in Managua’s Mercado Oriental. Behind the cart’s metal tow bar, Carlos tugs and twists his body, but he can’t turn straight into the bottleneck of pedestrians because the alley is too tight with vendors on both sides. The cart blocks the entire alley. Impatient whistles pierce the heavy air.

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