Recreio dos Bandeirantes
Recreio dos Bandeirantes (or simply Recreio, as Cariocas call it) is both the name of the beach and the neighborhood in the West Side --Zona Oeste-- of the city of Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, and is located to the west of the adjacent Barra da Tijuca neighborhood. It is a recent development, which makes the region more pristine than others in the city. It has plenty of sunshine, for there are no skyscrapers blocking the view, and mother natures has lavished the area with green jungles atop rocky cliffs and hills. High waves make Recreio Beach a spot for surfers and the white sand an ideal setting for beach volleyball players. It is about one hour from the city centre, and most of the people living there are middle-class and high middle-class families, who moved in trying to escape the growing violence of both the North and South Sides.
According to one version, the neighborhood received the name Recreio dos Bandeirantes, or "Bandeirantes' Leasure" because the company that mapped and hired a real estate agent to sell lots there had that name. Another version says that many of the newcomers were from Sao Paulo, the city wherefrom the Bandeiras departed in colonial times, and therefore Paulistas are associated with them. Bandeirantes were Portuguese frontiermen of the 16th/17th centuries who departed from the city of Sao Paulo into the Brazilian wild interior seeking to enslave native Americans. As the natives got sick and died from diseases brought in by the Portuguese or were resistant to slavery, the Bandeirantes settled for mining business, as they encountered diamond and gold mines in areas like Minas Gerais. Still another version states that Recreio was the first (or last) resting stop place with fresh water for Bandeirantes traveling between Rio and São Paulo.
Development in the area began in 1959, and only more recently, have well-to-do residents discovered and made Recreio their home. It does not have the hustle and bustle of bohemic Lapa, Copacabana, Leblon, and Ipanema, but there's been a growing number of restaurants, pizzerias, bars, private schools and colleges. There are a few favelas, or slums, in the section, but no drug dealing activity is known to take place in them, which makes the neighborhoods around them safer. However, the Taxas Canal is often polluted by slum residents through trash dumping. Recreio has an organized association of residents who communicate online with tips and news about the neighborhood. They have been able to address the need for the city building a Ciclovia --a road for bicycles-- and authorities have been persuaded to build, in the futures, two subway stations in the section to facilitate commuting to downtown and the South Side which now can take about 1 1/2 hrs. Recreio beach is usually the safest beach in which to bathe in Rio.