**********STAY WAS ON JUNE 24, 2013 TO JULY 1, 2013**********

We had a few problems with the apartment. First, we arrived to a surprisingly dirty kitchen. The fridge was unclean and the microwave was so filthy and it smelt so bad. We called Fenanda and she came down (a three hour commute from where she lives) to clean the Kitchen - she really did a good job with the cleaning. She explained that she had a new cleaning lady who was not doing her job correctly. I will be honest, the initial smell and look of the filthy microwave created such a psychological effect on me that I could not get myself to put my food in that microwave for the duration of our stay.

Secondly, there was a leak in the bathroom. Incidentally, previous guests of the apartment had complained about this same leak. Unfortunately, I didn’t look at the apartment reviews before I booked the apartment otherwise I never would have rented this apartment. To be honest, I never complained about the leak to Fernanda as I figured that would be no quick fix, as this seemed to be a long standing problem. Moreover, the incident about the Kitchen had stressed me out enough. After all, we (me and my 12 year old son) were supposed to be on holiday. This leak made staying at the apartment very undesirable and stressful at times. The bathroom just got more and more flooded everyday and in the end, we had to wear flip flops to go in there. After a few days, the damp rugs in the bathroom began to smell and this smell slowly spread to rest of the house. It really put a bad taste in my 12 year old boy's mouth and it kind of ruined our holiday - after all, how exciting can a holiday be if you are very uncomfortable with where you live. In order to compensate me for my “troubles”, Fernanda offered me up to $100 discount on my next trip (but this discount cannot be during the world cup or Olympics) - I really thought her offer was a slap in the face giving what we went through, and how much we paid to go through all that inconvenience.

Other than the issues mentioned above, the apartment would have been great. I liked the proximity to the shops, beaches and underground, the keyless entry, free calls to the USA, high speed internet. The apartment is more suitable for 2 people as it is extremely small. The sofa in the sitting room needs to be changed as it is completely worn out.

In my final analysis, I think Fernanda was a great host but that apartment should never have been rented to us with the bathroom in such a condition (I can forgive the dirty kitchen). Fernanda said the entire apartment is about to be refurbished but I would not take the risk of staying there again giving our experiences.