We loved our stay at Casa 48. Axel and his assistant, Valentine (Axel was out of the country when we arrived) were amazing, answering all our questions beforehand and staying in touch during our flight. Valentine greeted us and showed us around and explained house guidelines. We felt pampered by his service. His homemade cake and fresh squeezed orange juice at breakfast were a wonderful treat. He was often available to answer our questions about what to do and how to get there - even seeking other advice when he wasn't sure of the answer. I wanted to wash a few clothes during our stay and was told that they would be washed for me! We found them neatly folded outside our door when we got back. The house is so relaxing and quiet. There were more quests staying in the house than we realized! We were in one of the upper rooms and hardly heard others coming and going. Breakfast was a chance to get to know other guests and hear of their travels, which was nice as we had hoped to meet people from other countries. (We were the only Americans.) As our room was on the street/path side we did hear those in the favela coming and going (only on the weekend night did it go late into the night) but we enjoyed the murmur of conversations of kids going to school and other sounds of the neighborhood. A few times we took the back side down the hill (you must know that you will be doing a lot of uphill walking unless you take the bus to the front path) and felt comfortable doing so. We absolutely loved the location and vibe of the place. I've saved the best for last as the view that is shown in the pictures just can't do it justice. Our flight was delayed so we lost the chance to fly over Rio in the morning. We didn't arrive to the house until about 8:00 pm as opposed to 10:00 a.m. The night view from the hill looking down on the city is beautiful but the surprise of seeing it the next morning was unbelievable. I could have sat on the deck most of my trip and been happy. My only advice would be to try to acquire a map of St. Teresa and the road up to the house before your trip. There was a bit of construction and the taxi driver couldn't find his way. Luckily our son had met us at the airport and remembered how to get there on foot as we had to navigate the neighborhood at night, dragging our luggage behind us. But it's all in the adventure!