1,800 miles to satisfy a craving: Meet the world’s most dedicated food-delivery guy

“Four, probably five times a year," says the 20-year resident of this Washington, D.C., suburb. 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 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. The customer who books Chavez’s services can be either the person in the U.S. who will receive the food or their family members or friends in Guatemala sending it to them. There’s also a backhaul bonus: customers like the carpenter in Virginia who asked Chavez to deliver his own Christmas gifts to a brother back home: two power drills he had just purchased at Home Depot.