Thanks, you two. It's good to know that I could get around in Rio with a few helpful phrases. I would really hate to miss visiting this beautiful city.

I'm flying on a DL award and they don't have any obvious South American partners unless I could fly TAM using a codeshare on KLM or Air France. I'll have to look into this. Otherwise, I would have to do an open jaw rather than a stopover and buy a ticket between the two cities. I think UA partners with both TAM and LH so that would work if DL were only a part of Star Alliance.

If anyone has knowledge about flight possibilities, please post.

Also, if anyone knows about the B&B mentioned above vs apartments in BA, I'd appreciate your thoughts.