MIA Gov. plot thickens: South America?

This is from the Post & Courier. An excerpt:

Gov. Mark Sanford’s staff continued to tell the public Tuesday night that the governor was hiking along the Appalachian Trail even after a reporter greeted him at the Atlanta airport on his way home from a vacation in Buenos Aires, Argentina ... Sanford told the State Media Company that he decided at the last minute to go to South America to recharge after a tough legislative session. He told his staff he might go hiking.

"But I said 'no' I wanted to do something exotic ... It's a great city," he said during an interview at the Hartsville-Jackson International Airport.

Sanford said he was alone on the trip and declined to give any additional details other than to say he drove along the coastline.

Confused yet?