First, a BIG THANK YOU to Mario and Josh--you are natural-born hosts and you made our stay in Tulum fun, easy, and a fantastic memory.
This is a practically new, very clean and thoughtfully-appointed home. The two spacious bedrooms have very good AC and the downstairs kitchen, dining room and living space are all open, with large sliding windows on either side and a good fan in the center to keep the room airy and cool. There are lots of nice touches, like a thick exotic wood dividing counter and the large, open rain shower. The garden is incredibly well loved and cared for and the saline pool has a large, shallow platform for hanging out on and pretty lights in the evening. The pictures here are accurate but don't do this home justice.
The thing that sets it apart, though, is the hosts. We arrived late because of a delayed flight and we stopped on the way to get groceries in Playa Del Carmen (fyi, completely unnecessary for all you hyper planners, like me. Tulum has a great grocery store with prices similar to Playa Del Carmen and the house had staples like coffee, olive oil, spices, etc. on hand). Because we arrived a couple of hours later than expected, Josh called to make sure everything was okay, then talked us in from the highway to their street, where he was waiting on the corner with a flashlight to make sure we didn't miss it.
Before we arrived they asked us to provide a numerical code that would be easy for us to remember for the front gate. The gate was pre-coded when we arrived--as were our bike locks and the safe.
Josh and Mario have that wonderful sense of when to be available and when to give their guests space. Nearly all of our stand-out dining and beach experiences (and there were many) came from their recommendations. They quite genuinely seemed to take pleasure in us having an amazing time. During our stay, a couple arrived with a younger boy and we saw them being greeted at the gate and shown around--just like we were. The next day when we came back from the beach, Josh and Mario were both standing next to a new small bike they had bought that day, so excited to surprise the boy when he and his family came back to the house. They are like your favorite uncles.
One last note, I'd read that Tulum is expensive (which is why we stopped to shop for groceries on the way). That wasn't our experience at all--at least not by Seattle standards. I think it is if you stay and dine at the eco-tourist resorts and restaurants.