Politics / Mark Sanford Sanford Looked for Real Estate in Argentina Governor kept evenings free, shopped around during state trip By Kevin Spak, Newser Staff Posted Jul 10, 2009 2:51 PM CDT Copied A woman who did not want to be identified holds a sign as she joins a rally calling for South Carolina Gov. Mark Sanford's resignation, Thursday, July 9, 2009, at the Statehouse in Columbia, S.C. (AP Photo/Mary Ann Chastain) Mark Sanford requested meetings with real estate agents during his state-funded trade mission to Argentina last year and rearranged his itinerary to ensure he had at least one free evening in Buenos Aires, according to emails obtained by the AP. The South Carolina governor has said the trip was when he first became intimate with mistress Maria Belen Chapur. Sanford was originally going to Argentina for a privately funded bird-hunting trip in Cordoba with the state commerce secretary. He then cut the hunting short and requested business meetings be scheduled instead. After one day in Cordoba, he flew to Buenos Aires on the state's dime. A Sanford spokesman said he'd requested a business meeting in Argentina, but not in Buenos Aires specifically. (More Mark Sanford stories.) Report an error