Photos by rubensalgadoescudero | Monica Rivera Zuñiga is a mother of two, as well as third-generation mariachi musician. In 2020, I spent the first months of the pandemic at Plaza Garibaldi in Mexico City’s historic downtown, documenting how musicians at the “mariachi mecca” were affected. Before the pandemic, weekends at the plaza included hundreds of tourists and locals alike, flocking to see the spectacle and cacophony of mariachi bands competing to be heard. Each of them vied for small jobs that would help them feed their families. From the afternoon until the late hours of the night, dozens waited on the main avenue, one of the biggest in Mexico City, almost stepping in front of traffic in hopes of even a single serenade. But government restrictions in March 2020 put hundreds of these musicians out of work. The beloved mariachi are part of the nearly 60 percent of the Mexican population who are considered informal workers, meaning they rely on whatever they can earn in a day. Th...