Mas La Carrera

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Contrary to what people may think, neither the Carrera family have such surname because of the house, nor the house has the name of the family. In 1960, Bernat Carrera and his wife Pilar, together with his mother Rosa Gardella (otherwise known as Iaia Pina, which means Granny Pina), son and daughter Salvador and Dolors, and Pere came down from Bassegoda, in the Alta Garrotxa (north of the area). They were looking for not such a hard way of life, along with new chances. So they decided to buy Mas La Carrera in La Vall d'en Bas, which fulfilled their expectations. Furthermore, it had the name of our family. Who knows, though, whether any of our ancestors had lived there, and therefore the exodus of Bernat and his family was just their way back home. Anyhow, by having a look at the etymology it is likely that La Carrera got its original name from “the house at the back”, as this is actually where it is located, at the end of a small valley. Devoted to peasantry as far as we can recall, there are currently four generations living in the house. If you would like to see the way our family used to live back in 1992, you can see that in full detail by watching the TV report that was recorded by TV3 (the national TV channel in Catalunya) for their TV programme “30 minuts”. It was called “Un Any a Pagès”, which means “A Year in the Countryside”. (see: www.tv3.cat/30minuts/reportatges/1561/Un-any-a-pages).