Update: Gossip site TMZ quotes Guido's owner Carlos Soto as saying he's seen Sanford and Maria Belen Chapur in his place several times and that they were "all over each other" last week in his bar, "kissing, holding hands and drinking wine."
Thus lending credence to the widely-shared view that Sanford's intentions in flying down to Argentina were not to break things off.
Ben Smith:
On or around the day his wife asked him to move out, South Carolina Governor Mark Sanford booked a ten-day trip to Buenos Aires, a person familiar with the governor's travel plans told POLITICO.
Sanford booked the trip on Delta Air Lines on June 10, using the company's SkyMiles program, the source said. He bought a ticket for June 18, returning June 28.
Jenny Sanford said yesterday, June 24, that she'd "asked my husband to leave two weeks ago."
Sanford's trip was cut short after the local press raised questions about his absence, but the dates offer a glimpse into both his decision to depart as his marriage frayed, and after months of counseling.
The bookings also cast light on the governor's recklessness, and his belief, or hope, that he could vanish from the state for well over a week without raising questions about his absence.
He spent his time in Buenos Aires in Palermo, a fashionable residential neighborhood, and was not, reportedly, a recluse: He was seen in the local bar, Guido's, with Maria Belen Chapur last week.
