Last Resident of Catalan Pyrenees Village Dies, Leaving Hamlet Empty

The mountain village of Cal Castellnou de Carmeniu in Castellbò municipality has lost its last registered resident with the death of Lourdes Faus, a goat herder known locally as "la pastora."

Faus, who lived alone in the remote hamlet, embodied the self-reliant spirit of rural life in the Catalan Pyrenees. She tended goats while mastering a range of skills essential for isolated existence—from growing vegetables to foraging mushrooms. Despite her solitude, she remained a fixture at markets in La Seu d'Urgell on Tuesdays and Saturdays, where she sold produce like mató cheese, frost-kissed cabbages perfect for slicing, and broccoli that once sparked a visitor's fascination with fractal patterns.

Her temperament was discreet and good-natured; locals recall her unflappable demeanor, save for one incident when her goats vanished for three days. She worried about recent droughts and water shortages for her garden and livestock, though she passed away during an unusually rainy year. Faus delighted in sharing stories of mushroom seasons and the influx of visitors—counted by cars—to nearby spots like Sant Joan de l’Erm. She treasured a photo of herself with her goats from an interview in the Segre newspaper, which highlighted Lleida province's one-person villages. Print media held a special allure for her, far beyond television.

Her death underscores the depopulation plaguing Spain's "empty" rural areas, including the Castellbò valley—a historic corner where prosperity has long faded. Entire villages there can sell for less than a Barcelona flat, or even some apartments in Escaldes' high-rises in Andorra, though such comparisons overlook the vast gulf in scale and vitality.

The writer, who visited Carmeniu twice, first found it eerily empty, then alive with the bleats of Faus's newborn kids. The lasting image is of her opening the goat pen, a symbol now of a vanishing way of life.