When in Rio, we stayed at Casa Áurea, a pousada located precisely on Santa Teresa’s Rua Aurea. Its website is available in portuguese, english, spanish, french and german. We found the place through the Internet, and after finding some good references of the place in some pictures, we decided to make a reservation. Besides, we thought it was interesting to stay in an area not so close to the beach zone in Rio, and one that not only seemed quiet but also architectonically original. Later, we’d find this decision had its good and bad sides as well.

The pousada is managed by Cornelius Rohr, but everyone simply calls him Otto. He’s the host, and we have to say he does a pretty good job in this sense. He’s an excellent source of information about Rio and has no issues in borrowing some of his material. A hint: we arrived to Rio on a sunday afternoon and we only had dollars on us. Since it’s kind of hard to find a place to exchange foreign currency on that day, Otto borrowed us 70 reais to go to out to lunch. That is, he didn’t even know us, but had no problem in helping us out on this one. By the way, Otto is quite fluent in english -besides portuguese, obviously- but not in spanish. Other staff members are, though.

We have to say Casa Aurea definitely has what, in an essentialist plan, we’d call a “carioca atmosphere”. That is, everything is done very calmly. No stress, or rush, or nerves. There’s always time to talk, or to lie down on the hammocks and read. Such parsimony can upset more than one fast-paced traveller. In fact, at breakfast time, one has to arrive to the table almost in zen state, willing to wait a little while for food to be served. If for some reason you’re in a hurry to leave early in the morning, I’d recommend to skip the free breakfast and go to a local bar. At Casa Aurea there’s no place for rush. By the way, they don’t serve breakfast too early; they start around 9am, and I’d rather say, show up a little later. Anyways, it’s worth the wait, the breakfast is really nice and includes goiaba jelly. The attention is personalized and warm, far from the usual distant hotel attention. By the way, if you’re lucky, you’ll even get to see the little saguí monkeys hanging on the backyard’s trees. For those who suffer about the mosquitoes issue, there are mosquito bed nets available in the closets, and can be easily placed over the bed -there’s a hook in the roof for this. The rooms have fans.

There are many more characteristics to add to the good side. The place is really nice, and the yard has plenty of room to rest. There are many tables to eat and chat, and most of the time people just hang out in a “no stress” plan. Besides, since the neighborhood is very quiet, it’s an ideal place to relax. There’s free internet 24 hours a day, although unfortunately for us on the days we spent there the connection was down most of the time, so we only got to go online one day and a half out of the five days we stayed. Don’t even ask me the name of their internet provider. You can also make phone calls through Skype, although -of course- it’s only possible if the Internet is up and running.

They have travel guides available for their guests, such as Lonely Planet, Rough Guide, Fodor’s, etc. There’s a fridge with beers and sodas available for the guests all day; every time we pull something out, just have to write down our name on the list and they’ll charge us for everything at the end. There are also magazines, most of them in portuguese, such as Veja. There’s laundry service, but the same rythm issue of breakfast time applies here. If you’re in a hurry because you run out of clean clothes to wear, let them know you need you laundry soon.

Our room was located downstairs, but since the area’s geography is quite complex, it’s located on a hill, we were downstairs and still had access to a balcony facing the rear street. The room had a fridge, although in the case your room doesn’t have one, you can always use the one at the bar area, in the patio.

By the way, sometimes during the day, Otto might not be around, and his absence is noticeable. Sometimes we didn’t know who to ask some question, something that didn’t happen when the host was hanging around. It’s a minor detail, but could be important at some moments of the day.

The cost for a double bedroom with private bathroom is 120 reais, which is just online with other pousadas and hostels in Rio. To stay at Santa Teresa is really interesting. The area is really quiet and attractive. It has its down sides if you really like to go out a lot at night, and have to depend on taxis to return. Many times, taxi drivers will want to overcharge you for a ride to Santa Teresa, since on the way back they don’t find passengers to pick up -something that doesn’t happen when they go towards Ipanema, for example. So if you’re planning to spend most of your time at the beach, the most reasonable thing to do would be to stay around Ipanema, Copacabana or Leblon, since you’ll have quicker access from there. Now, if you’re interested in the Carnival issue, Casa Aurea is located less than 10 minutes away in taxi from the Sambodrome, much closer than Ipanema, Rio’s typical touristic area. Ask for prices at different pousadas and hostels, since around Carnival time you have to reserve a room for many nights and prices go up (the same thing happens around New Years day).