This was our first trip to Brazil, and we spent four days at Charles' home in Rio. It was simply a wonderful time. The rooms (from which, there are three to choose), were clean, spacious and comfortable. They all are directly accessible from a lovely garden terrace overlooking the beautiful valley and mountains of Rio, straight up to the breathtaking statue of the Christ!! Charles' creative use of space has provided every amenity you could possibly need to make his house your temporary home. With a fully covered outdoor kitchen, two marble picnic tables and two BBQ grills (all of which, is for your personal use), you may find yourself struggling to choose between going out on the town for dinner, or running down to the local market to grab some fresh fish and vegetables and a nice bottle of Brazilian Moscato and enjoying a home cooked candle-lit dinner under the stars. However, if you do decide to head into town for the night (or day), you are just minutes by foot from Botafogo Beach with views of the Yacht Club and Sugerloaf mountain, or by taxi to the sands of Copacabana and Ipanema beaches and the endless shopping and fine dining establishments between them.

In short, we can't imagine a better way to have visited Rio, Brazil, or for that matter, South America for the first time. Charles was a wonderful host and went well above and beyond to see to our every need and comfort. We will definitely be telling our family and friends not to mention returning ourselves. But more than that, we might just bring a few of them along with us next time... or maybe we should just keep Charles' little slice of heaven to ourselves!!!