I had the dubious pleasure of staying a short night at the La Quinta hotel not far from the airport, last Thursday. My flight from Copiapó arrived (late) around 10pm and there was no hotel shuttle anywhere and no information on when one would get there, so I grabbed a cab and was charged CLP$10.000 for what was a very short ride. At least the cabbie was up front about why he had to rip me off: there was a two-kilometre "taco" (Chilenese for traffic jam) to get into the airport. They're busy on construction, that's for sure, and the roadway leading to the terminal is currently down to two narrow lanes that snake their way around the construction works on both sides of the road.

Quite the nightmare! So for those heading out to the airport at peak times, I suggest you leave yourselves lots of time to spare as I doubt last Thursday was an aberration.