How Can Nicaragua Be So Happy When It Has A Stack Of Sad Statistics?
The latest World Happiness Report says Nicaragua made the greatest gains in happiness of any country — to the surprise of some Nicaraguans.
On a scorching afternoon in March, Agner Balladares Cardoza drives along Managua's chaotic main road, the Masaya Highway, jammed each day by the city's stressed-out commuters.
Balladares, 36, is the father of a 6-month-old girl. He has no formal job and makes his living selling whatever he can get his hands on — pants, used car batteries, baseball caps — and by working as a driver on occasion. When he has nothing to sell and no one to drive, Balladares stays at home and takes care of his little girl.
This afternoon he's weaving quickly through traffic for a woman who hired him to transport groceries to her
