Torrential rains in late January forced the evacuation of more than 4,000 people by air from the 15th century city in the Andes and claimed seven lives.

The storms also dealt a major blow to the South American nation’s tourism industry with an estimated loss of 185 million dollars in revenue, the tourism ministry said.

The World Heritage site perched about 2,500 meters (8,200 feet) in the Andes mountains formally reopened Thursday but remains plagued by concerns about its preservation with plans under way to build an alternative access to the ruins.

“It’s mysterious. There’s such energy here!,” said Eva Maria Frittgen, a 23-year-old German, who was one of the first of the returning visitors to the so-called “Lost City of the Incas” this week.

The heaviest rainfall in 15 years washed away large chunks of the 110-kilometre (70-mile) railway which brings nearly all of 2,200 daily tourists who visit Machu Picchu each day.

The brunt of the closure was felt in the province of Cuzco where 175,000 people depend on tourism. The city of Cuzco has been operating at 30 percent of capacity, and some hotels and restaurants closed, Roger Valencia, vice-president of the chamber of commerce, told AFP.

That is why the reopening of Machu Picchu on Thursday was cause for celebration with Hollywood star Susan Sarandon joining about 1,000 tourists in the festivities.

“What a relief,” exclaimed Justiniana, who sells alpaca sweaters in the village of Aguas Calientes, the gateway to Machu Picchu. “I lost about 200 soles (70 dollars) a day, we all had nothing else to do.”

The ancient city will not be at full capacity for tourists for a while yet. It will take another two months to repair the full length of the railway.

But the closure of Machu Picchu has made Peru more aware of its dependence on visitors to the Inca site and some in the tourism industry and media have called on the government to diversity the country’s appeal.

Tourism Minister Martin Perez, who attended Thursday’s reopening, talked about building a new road to provide alternative access to Machu Picchu besides the railway line.

The UN Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation (UNESCO) has raised concerns that the project could lead to uncontrolled access to the Inca citadel, which for five centuries, until it was rediscovered by American explorer Hiram Bingham in 1911, was unknown to the rest of the world.

Peruvian heritage experts are working with UNESCO on a project that provides appropriate access to the archeological jewel.

“A pilgrimage is founded on reason or purpose for wanting to connect with something magnificent that will alter the course of your life.” Shaman Maria said. “We leave our cares and concerns of everyday life and travel to places of power where the energy of creation seeps into our world and where we can affect changes in our global consciousness, which is desperately needed in our world today.”

According to Shaman Maria, pilgrimages are growing in popularity in response to changes in the world’s climate, economies and politics. With stability and security being increasingly threatened, she believes the masses are yearning for something on which they may anchor their faith, trust and hope. Pilgrimages to sacred places allow people to focus on spiritual instead of material things.

The difference between a pilgrimage and an ordinary tour is that a pilgrimage is conscious journey in which the pilgrim learns to accept the natural terms of the universe. A pilgrim must be open and flexible, willing to change their lives and discover their purpose for being.

“The experience can be incredibly life transforming and you must be aware that unexpected change will occur,” Shaman Maria said.

The pilgrimage tours she leads blend traditional Shamanic and spiritual experiences, including ceremony and ritual in the natural landscape. She combines traditional Inkan, Q’ero, Native American Sacred Pipe and Cabana de Sudor (sweat lodge) and Goddess & Lords ceremonies, set in the natural beauty and of the Andes.

Maria’s website is www.PachamamaOneWorld.com. For more on Shaman Maria email Maria_Gurule@comcast.net.

It’s risky to write about little known sacred places. I worry about bringing them to the attention of people who don’t respect Mother Earth. Hordes of careless tourists have nearly loved Stonehenge to death, and I’d hate to see that happen to other sites. Already, the mystical atmosphere of two places near Sedona, Arizona is at risk from commercialization, as is Newgrange in Ireland. A few years ago there was a proposal for a cable car and luxury hotel development at Machu Picchu that, if it had not been stopped, could have transformed Peru’s greatest Inca sanctuary into an exclusive playground for the wealthy.

It’s not a new phenomenon. During the Middle Ages, pilgrims to Jerusalem had to be warned against “chipping off fragments from the Holy Sepulchers.” Today’s vandals include not only hooligans who paint graffiti, climb over barriers and jump on top of fragile megaliths, but also well-meaning souls who bury foreign crystals, hoping to “heal the Earth” or light candles, not realizing that soot and wax are as harmful as spray paint.

I share the following information in hope that visitors to this pilgrimage web site can be trusted to honor and respect Mother Earth’s most precious treasures.

My closely guarded secret place is Pisac, in Peru’s Sacred Valley. It’s hard to get to and the meager infrastructure can barely cope with the handful of tourists who now find there way there. But for me it was the most moving of all the sites I visited in Peru, including Machu Picchu.

The village of Pisac (or Pisaq) is about 20 miles northeast of Cusco, and the bus trip takes less than an hour. Markets are held in Pisac’s main square on Sundays, Tuesdays and Thursdays, and those are the days when you’re most likely to encounter other tourists at the Inca citadel high above the village. There are two routes up. One is on a rough, steep, narrow path, that takes about half an hour. The other is even steeper, rougher, longer and more scenic. As you hike up the grassy trail you may see a Andean hawks or condors soaring overhead. Looking across a steep gorge, you can see distant hillsides honeycombed with ancient Inca burial sites. Eventually, you arrive at a trapezoid shaped arch whose massive stones were precisely cut and fitted together without mortar. Once only priests and the Inca royal family were allowed through this magnificent portal. Before going in, we paused for a moment, respectful of the sacred space we were entering.

The narrow path continues with dramatic views down to the Urubamba river. After you pass through a small tunnel, the main temple area appears in the distance, a triangular, terraced plateau surrounded by even higher mountains. Beyond the complex of roofless stone buildings, an outcropping of bedrock is carved into an Intihuatana, a “hitching post of the sun.” Pisac is much like a miniature Machu Picchu. As I sat near an ancient stone wall, in the clear air of the Sacred Valley, I began to understand why such an elaborate citadel had been built here. The Inca name for a mountain spirit is Apu, and at Pisac I felt the power of the Apus. No matter which direction I faced, each of the surrounding mountains seemed to be beaming its energy down toward the Intihuatana as if it were a satellite dish. Perhaps that’s what it is, a kind of mystical link between the terrestrial and celestial forces, built more than five centuries ago. Whatever its purpose, in Pisac’s highly charged atmosphere I felt as if I were nestled in the palm of an enormous hand which could easily crush me, but chose instead to nourish, inspire and love me!

If you make a pilgrimage to Pisac or any other sacred place, if you should feel moved to give thanks in a tangible way, please heed the advice of Britain’s Save Our Sacred Sites organization. They suggest honoring ancient sites by picking up litter. If you must leave something behind, let it be a prayer of thanks.

Robert Scheer is travel writer who specializes in pilgrimages to sacred sites and places of power.