Guatemala expat community roiled by relic smuggling charges

By SONIA PÉREZ D.
Associated Press

ANTIGUA, Guatemala (AP) — Two Americans, one a photographer and the other a connoisseur of Mayan folk art, are facing charges of smuggling pre-Hispanic artifacts in Guatemala. The case has roiled the normally tranquil tourist-magnet town of Antigua, where travelers and expats live among centuries-old ruins of colonial buildings and soaring volcanic peaks. Photographer Stephanie Allison Jolluck has been detained twice in the space of a few days for carrying Mayan relics. The first time she was caught trying to take two thousand-year-old Mayan ceremonial carvings on a flight out of the country. She said she thought they were cheap reproductions.