BREADWINNER: Isidro Mata, a 25-year-old McDonald’s maintenance worker, polishes a sign at one of the chain’s Los Angeles restaurants. Much of the money he earns he sends home to relatives in Mexico. (Don Bartletti / LAT)
SENDING HELP: On a Sunday morning, Isidro Mata buys a $300 money order at a Mexico Express cash transfer outlet in Huntington Park. He is sending the funds to his wife in Panindicuaro, in Mexico’s Michoacan state. (Don Bartletti / LAT)
IN MEXICO: Early Monday morning, Mexico Express clerks at a distribution center in Zacapu, Michoacan state, sort money order envelopes, including the one Isidro Mata sent the day before. (Don Bartletti / LAT)
SAFEKEEPING: A Mexico Express delivery worker tucks some money orders into his waistband before heading out on his motorcycle route from Zacapu, in the Mexican state of Michoacan. He also keeps money orders in his bag. (Don Bartletti / LAT)
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REMOTE ROUTE: A Mexico Express worker asks a horseback rider in Panindicuaro, Michoacan state, for directions to an address as he makes his way on motorcycle to deliver about 70 money orders. (Don Bartletti / LAT)
DELIVERY: On Monday afternoon, about 30 hours after Isidro Mata sent a money order from Huntington Park to his wife, Angelica, the funds arrive at their home in Panindicuaro, in the Mexican state of Michoacan. (Don Bartletti / LAT)
GRATEFUL: Guadalupe Vidales, 74, kisses an envelope containing a money order sent by her son in Bakersfield. (Don Bartletti / LAT)
AFTERNOON SERENADE: Abimael Vasquez, 16, strums a guitar in the doorway of a video arcade where he works after school in Talea de Castro in Oaxaca state, Mexico. When he graduates from high school, he says, he plans to head to the United States to work with his father to help support relatives. (Don Bartletti / LAT)
