We had a great time in Maria's place: apartment was perfect for a couple! Everything was very clean, with all commodities (clean towels, wifi, air con, nice kitchen...) and we appreciated security thanks to the guardian. We felt like home. Moreover, it is located in the most popular street of Rio, one block from the beach and Rio market (all night) were you can buy nice "souvenirs". There are various shops and restaurants. Just in front of the apartment, there is a supermarket so that you can buy anything that you need for the day 2 day. And closed to, you can change your money at an interesting rate. Subway is five minutes walk and we used it a lot: you can move in the center easily. Ipanema is about 15 minutes walk from the apartment and you can go using the beach street which is nice.
We were welcomed by Maria's sister in law who explained us a lot of things about Rio downtown. Maria left guides and documentation about Rio to support us organizing our trip. We knew we that we could call them but we did not need to. We appreciated having 2 keys for us being able to organize ourselves.
If we go back, we would certainly come again in Maria's place and we recommend it: don't hesitate, this is a clean place, safe and well located.