Lavalle is recognized for its cultural tourism, its traditions and its religious parties. It is in this department of the Province, that the Huarpes community is settled. They still preserve many of their unique customs and traditions.
Year after year, it is possible to experience their culture, their typical gastronomy, their Creole skills, religious ceremonies, the celebrations such as the “Fiesta de la Asunción” in August, or the “Fiesta de Lagunas del Rosario” in October. There you can visit the Historic Chapel, the Regional Museum, and the Apiarist House.
Towards the Northwest, Lavalle is an old native area that shows the arid face transformed by the desertification; a curious tribute to the depreciations of a confusing progress.
The mountain water, nowadays kept in the dams on the rivers Mendoza and San Juan, flooded the old lakes of Huanacache, where there used to be a very interesting rush and reed, wool, and leather craft production; with great effort and love for their land there are still some remains of that art in some small and isolated goat farms.
During the summer season, it is possible to take tours through the Telteca woods and to the dunes in the desert Los Altos Limpios.
In villages such as San Miguel, Asunción, or El Forzudo, there are some preserved old churches where every year people celebrate their patron saint parties. During those festivities, the inhabitants of the desert are convoked creating a fusion of Pagan and Catholic rituals. Those parties last for many days with different folk manifestations and traditional food.
The products exhibited and commercialized are the results of constant incentives of the government to the small farms, allowing them to subsist financially, and encouraging them to keep their traditional art techniques as well.
The local gastronomy represented by the goat (kid) on the flame, “chanfaina”, (prepared with the insides of a kid), “quirquincho” (armadillo) on the embers, can be tasted all year long.
At the far Northern part of Lavalle is El Encón, which connects Mendoza with the North of San Luis and the Traslasierra valley, in the province of Córdoba.
