Anna's place was beautiful, serene, and comfortable. The photographs and description in the listing were entirely accurate. Anna actually upgraded me to another room, so she might want to link this review to that listing. She has several rooms/apartments that all share a common space. Typically, everyone was out doing something, and I had the place to myself when I was at home.

Anna is the perfect host - warm, welcoming, and helpful but also unobtrusive. She did many nice little things for me that I would not have expected from a host, from making phone calls to ask about art I was looking for to picking up boxes for me from the supermarket. I hope that someday she'll stay with me so that I can return her hospitality.

The Santa Teresa neighborhood is too beautiful for description. As for safety, I did not have any problems, but I was cautioned by several Cariocas that Santa Teresa is very dangerous. Anna may be more comfortable there than most because she lives there and knows it better. Certainly her house itself feels secure.