julcán: mi comunidad nueva

I am finally an official Peace Corps Volunteer! I arrived in my new community, Julcán, La Libertad. At an altitude of 3500 meters (over 10,000 ft), Julcán is a beautiful site in the Andes Mountains. It is very rural: donkeys, pigs, chickens, and little children running around everywhere. (There is also no internet access, which means I have even more limited time to update this blog! So, I apologize for the short entries). Practically everyone in my community is a potato farmer. The people have been very welcoming, but also a little shy towards me. The population of Julcán itself is about 4,000 people. I will also be working in caserios (smaller communities) surrounding the town of Julcán.
There are two other Peace Corps Volunteers in Julcan with me. Jason and Chris will be working in the Water and Sanitation program, while I’m working in the Health Program. During my first three months here, I will be working on a community diagnostic to get to know the community and assess its needs.