Originally Posted by
Dylanj
. Are hostels the way to go as far as keeping costs down? Are the safe ways to find people looking for roomates there, I'd be open to that if the cost is reasonable. I am going to look into local surf there, but if there is some good surf around I would like to bring my board, would this be an issue at a hostel (either because of space or theft)?
Try this hostel/surf school (which rents boards, I believe) in a Rio neighborhood a bit ("west" they call it, but really south along the coast):
http://www.riosurfnstay.com/
The neighborhood isn't as convenient to the tourist sights as maybe Copacabana or Ipanema (the main tourist neighborhoods), but it can be done by local public bus.