Con todo mi alma

At the end of September, 2025, I took a bus from Guayaquil to Salinas, Ecuador. I had been planning to be spend the next two months with my girlfriend, Karen, but she had abruptly stopped talking to me.

I managed to get ahold of a friend of Karen’s, named Aleska, and asked her if she knew what was going on. She told me Karen hadn’t been responding to her messages either. I told her I was going to go to Karen’s family’s house and see what was going on. She must have told Karen that, because Karen did finally message me.

Karen said she was having a really rough time, but she did want to see me. She asked if it was OK if she came over with Aleska and Aleska’s (American) boyfriend. I had rented an apartment with a swimming pool (Airbnbs are cheap in Ecuador, and I knew Karen’s daughters liked to swim). Karen said she thought it would be fun if we could all hang out and have some beers. “This is what I need right now,” she said, preempting my objection that I was hoping she and I could have some time alone together. I acquiesced.

Karen came over with her two daughters, Allie and Kaely, Aleska, and Aleska’s boyfriend. We had a good time, and I was particularly happy to see Karen’s daughters, whom I had come to care about very much. But it was clear that Karen was still in pain from her ongoing health issues—and it was also clear that she was avoiding being alone with me. After a few hours, everybody left, and I was again alone.

Over the next several days, Karen kept assuring me she would come over again soon, but she never did. She was minimally communicative and finally told me that she was sorry, but she just couldn’t be in a relationship right now.

She insisted the reason was her poor health and mental state and the toll that her health problems were taking on me. This, of course, sounded like typical female “It’s not you, it’s me” breakup language. The strange thing, though, was that she continued to insist all this time that she loved me very much, that I was the love of her life, that I was the best man she had ever known.