My husband and I spent a wonderful week in Tania's apartment which was exactly as shown on the airbnb site. Tania was very welcoming and kindly bought in a whole lot of fruit and cheese & biscuits so we would not need to go shopping that evening. She does not speak English but managed to get across all the necessary information.
The apartment is up a hill and about 10 mins walk from the main shopping street which is also the centre for catching buses to almost everywhere. Buses are great way to travel and they only cost 3 reals which is about A$1.50 a head for the entire journey. Since my husband had a damaged leg we used to take a taxi back as they are very cheap in Rio but it is good to have the address written out as Portuguese is not pronounced as it is written!! However, while we were there the tram which runs right past the apartment was not operating but they were working on it while we were there and expect to have it operational by November which will make it much easier to get around Santa Teresa.