A great way to experience living in a pacified Favela with a very welcoming host family! This room is located on the ground floor of the home, and there are more rooms for guests to rent in the second floor. I had no problems with access to my room during my stay at any time, but one precaution is that if you have large luggages or if you have a rather large body type (I'm guessing people who are over 90 kgs or 200 lbs), you should consider renting the other rooms in this house. The reason is the space adjacent to the bottom of the staircase, which is the opening to the entrance of the corridor to my room, is roughly the width of my standard size, rectangular carry on luggage with wheels. In other words, it's about 2/3 of my shoulder width. However, once you get passed the opening, the corridor opens up widely. The en-suite has a decent sized private bathroom, two single beds with a night stand in between, and a decent sized wardrobe. Don't expect the room to be from a 3-star hotel, but it has acceptable cleanliness standards. The room can be locked when you are away, and I felt safe to leave my valuables there. I stayed for four nights and the bathroom was cleaned on the day before I left Rio (presumably by Vera, Thiago's mom) while I was away and the room locked. I regretfully did not have a chance to meet with Thiago, but he was very responsive with my messages, especially when I was approaching to his home from the bus terminal and did not know what to expect. Vera greeted me at the Chill Hostel, which is about 5 minutes walk to their home. I was able to converse with her with my very limited vocabulary in Portuguese (and she understands some basic English as well) every early morning when she prepares for breakfast on the covered rooftop terrace, which has an amazing view.