goodbye agriculture

We just had our COS (Close of Service) conference which tells me two things. One, I am almost done down here in Ecuador. Two, I NEED TO FIND A JOB NOW. Sorry for all caps on that one but its not something I´m chomping at the bit to do now. During our COS conference, while being flooded with all sorts of paperwork (do you realize we have to sign a form that requires us to fly an american carrier back to the states? take that TACA airlines! you´re not getting my money!) before we leave at peace corps volunteers, we were informed that the sustainable agriculture program is going to be terminated in the next two years. The group of volunteers that are in training right now are the last AG volunteers to enter the country. This means in a few years there won´t be any more volunteers that do what I (and many other talented gringos) do in Ecuador.
Agriculture has been in Ecuador since the inception of Peace Corps Ecuador, 50 years ago. There have been TWO program managers in Agriculture in this time, while other programs have had that many program managers in the last two years. It certainly is a sad day as the AG staff (especially our program managers Nelson and Eduardo) are two of the best that PC Ecuador has. The reason behind the move is that there are so many sites in Ecuador and not enough qualified applicants to fill the positions from the US. From that perspective it does make sense because not many people focus their careers on agriculture. A lot of the volunteers that came down here for training don´t know how to prune a tree. Second, Peace Corps Ecuador is adding a program, Teaching English as a Foreign Language (TEFL). Now, it could be said that I have already been apart of that program for the last two years, even though I am an agriculture volunteer. The Peace Corps wants to focus its resources on Health, Small Businesses, Natural Resources and English in the near future. I have always wondered why Peace Corps is even in Ecuador in the first place. There is a reason why it is called posh corps. Lots of volunteers live in the city in nice apartments with wireless internet...is that really a peace corps experience? Meanwhile, in the areas where volunteers are needed, volunteers can´t go there because of safety concerns. So it has become a double edged sword here in Ecuador.
Oh, and we´re a few weeks away from Carnaval here in Guaranda, I can´t wait for the debuachery.