My wife was in the Peace Corps for two years in Sierra Leon. You mentioned that you wanted to go to a particular area and she did as well. But when she did her tour of duty (mid 80's), you did not get to make that choice. You were assigned where they needed you.
Being in the Peace Corp was a life changing experience for my wife, but not an easy one. She made many sacrifices in order to accomplish what she did, one of them being her health. She contracted a number of diseases, including malaria, and some of these continue to negatively impact her to this day. Another thing she speaks about is how aggressive the Peace Corp was about the difficulty of maintaining a relationship. I am unclear about the specifics of this, but single people were encourage either to break off their relationships or to consider not going. As it turns out, her relationship at that time did not survive the Peace Corp experience, so that is something to consider if you are currently involved with someone.
She also had to confront the fact that the Peace Corp, for all its good intentions, has a mixed impact on the culture it serves. For example, sex between male Peace Corp volunteers and the native population was quite common. This was problematic on many levels. Just like antibiotics are helpful in confronting an infection but also disrupt friendly bacteria in the GI tract, so the Peace Corp can foster dependencies, introduce cultural introjects, and have other unintended negative consequences. She tells me that her ideals took a pretty hard hit after the two years she spent in Africa.
One of the positive things she talks about concerning her Peace Corp experience is meeting other people who had similar ideals. Some of these have become life-long friends. She also has a completely different ("more enlightened" she says
) view of American culture and politics since being in the Peace Corp. She is often very critical of American foreign policy and can see the bigger picture in a much more realistic and pragmatic way.
Overall, I think she benefited from her experience, but it is certainly not something to consider lightly. I would talk to as many people who have done this as possible.
I hope this was helpful to you...