As others have said its unique. We didn't meet Ricardo but Rachel was very helpful despite her having no English and our having no Portuguese! The open side of the veranda faces East so you get a wonderful sunrise. At the time we were there (June) the sun was on that side of the veranda all the time so great for sunbathing. At night it wasn't cold at all despite being winter. Yes it's noisy but not too bad - when we had the fan on it drowned out the traffic noise!). Didn't have problems with any biting insects. The area is a bit rough and is a bit out from the centre of Santa Theresa - most of the time we used Uber for getting around which was very reliable and very cheap (we spent £58 over the course of 9 days in Rio including to and from the airport). The price of the accommodation is very reasonable!