$479 - Flights to Quito Ecuador from LA
The Endangered Galapagos Tortoise - Quito is a common jump off point before heading to these islands.
Both LACSA and Taca Airlines offering flights between LAX and Mariscal Sucr airport in Quito for under 500 dollars round trip including all taxes and fees.
The cheapest flights usually involve both airlines and need to be booked on a third party site like cheaptickets.com or Orbitz
Also for the cheapest flights, there is usually a six hour layover in one of the directions in Costa Rica. Total flight time in either direction is never more than 20 hours and without the layover, flight time is under 10 hours each way.
From Quito, Many people head for the Galapagos, but there is plenty to see on the mainland as well. Ecuador has its own patch of the Andes mountains ready to be explored, plus there is the western part of the Amazon, both very accessible from Quito.
