Valeria was a lovely hostess. Her apartment looked exactly as it did in the photos and the neighborhood was safe and easily maneuverable. In addition, Valeria was very communicative - responding to questions and e-mails quickly and kindly. And when I had problems with the water pressure in the apartment (due to construction taking place in the building), Valeria came over and got to the bottom of the problem, reaching out to maintenance workers to make sure that everything was resolved quickly. I really appreciated how helpful she was and I would strongly recommend her apartment to anyone looking to travel to Ipanema.