New Perspectives in Peru

Chloe Landry ’25 is a College of Hospitality Management student and co-editor of the Campus Herald at JWU. Below is her story her personal story about her FAM trip and adventures in Peru.

When I tell people that I am obtaining a degree in tourism, they usually are intrigued by what that entails, and what jobs await me in the future. I assure them that traveling can be a career, and since my FAM “familiarization” trip to Peru, I have an amazing anecdote for the potential life ahead of me.

The goal of the FAM course is to allow students to become tour guides in a new destination and gain that experience while learning in a group. We learn about tour operations, characteristics of professional tour operators, and the psychology and economics of tour management in foreign countries. Each student's role for their FAM tour is to research and plan one day of the trip as if they were a tour operator, and then executing their plan during the tour. The FAM tours are also unique opportunities for life-changing, exciting trips with your peers.

One of my favorite parts of the class was finding out what our destination would be during the first meeting of our class. Although it was months before the trip, picturing myself in a specific location became more real and I was excited to learn we would visit Peru and see one of the New Seven Wonders of the World: Machu Picchu.

In 2019, I had traveled to Ecuador and the Galapagos Islands, located in an area of South America not far from Peru. I was motivated to use the Spanish phrases I had learned back then to enhance my trip to Peru even further.

The classmates I traveled with were a tight-knit group — we had taken several of the same tourism classes, making the trip less daunting as far as planning and coordinating activities and downtime. We planned for months to make the most of our trip and see everything the country had to offer and teach us. Working with G Adventures and a local tour guide helped us see the social, economic and environmental aspects of Peru and its tourism industry.

Our eight-day trip began with a bus to the Boston Logan Airport, followed by the flight to Lima, the capital of Peru. During the first few days in the capital, we learned about the country’s history, had a look at the daily life of Peruvians and at what the future of tourism could be for Lima and its surrounding cities. The daily life of Peruvians is similar to ours in Providence, but as we traveled farther away from the capital, we saw less modernized and Westernized areas.

As we moved further into the country to Aguas Calientes, we could see how the culture further reflected the roots of Peru. Instead of seeing KFC and Pizza Hut combination restaurants as we did in Lima, we ate at Chullos and Chifa Sipan that served traditional Peruvian cuisine. While in this area, we took trips to both Machu Picchu and the Rainbow Mountains, and they truly highlighted the intense natural beauty of Peru. During the train ride into Aguas Calientes, I remember everyone looking at the glass ceilings and repeating over and over, “It’s like looking at a show, it’s so beautiful … I can’t look away.” With Machu Picchu being one of the New Seven Wonders of the World, it meant a lot just to be there — I could tell when I arrived that even from the bottom of the mountain this was an amazing feat by humans. You could see so much history — it felt so special to experience it.

For the duration of our trip, our class was required to complete the RISE Flagship Program certification for being sustainable travelers, which drastically changed the way we acted while traveling. RISE is an online program about traveling sustainably and responsibly as far as the social, economic and environmental aspects of travel. It included niche topics such as when to take photography, when it is acceptable to touch animals that are outside of their natural habitat and how to respect and learn from varied cultural groups.

Through studying the RISE Flagship Program, we quickly realized that the future of tourism for Peru is dependent on us as tourists and we were able to actively change our travel habits, including spending our money and time where it would be put to the best use and flow back into the local economy. This included going to locally owned businesses and taking tours of women’s pottery groups. Being mindful of who we are and where we were also played a significant role in our overall experience.

This trip was a mindful and eye-opening experience, and my peers and I learned about trying new foods with grace and used Spanish phrases whenever possible. The FAM trip has forever changed the way I travel, and I am grateful for the experience that JWU has given me. My future career aspirations certainly were solidified by gaining tour guide experience while on Machu Picchu. I could picture myself leading a group of my own in a different unique destination across the world. Working on my tourism degree has enhanced every trip I have taken and will take, because of the knowledge I have and the goals I strive to achieve to keep tourism alive and well for everyone to enjoy.