We spent a week in early 2/16 at Tana Pepem & were delighted to find it situated among a row of mostly empty regional vacation homes on the shore. The home was a 2ish hour drive from Cancun through jungle small towns, some of which were celebrating Carnival as we drove through. We found the house easily and enjoyed a delicious home-cooked meal waiting for us by special request when we arrived; Sara and her husband Gabrielle welcomed us warmly and Sara gave us a tour of town the next day.
Tana Pepem was clean, with modern updates and basic, beach appropriate furnishings and linens. This is a family vacation home in Mexico, not a luxury condo, and if a simple bar of Rosa Venus soap sounds refreshing and you don't mind running the water lowering switch daily to refresh rain water in the plumbing, this may be your beachside haven. The downstairs room was equip with a playpen, cot and twin beds, perfect for our 2 year old, and the upstairs is situated with glorious views of the ocean from room and balcony. We enjoyed having toys and kid pools for the shady beach yard, private sunning areas within the yard, and a very short path to our very own beach. The water was warm enough for us far northerners to swim every day, but winds are strong, and kiteboarding or kite-flying are good options for choppy days. We experienced a strong rainstorm one night, lost power and discovered a couple of inches of water had blown in from the balcony --viva la adventura!
You can request maid service, laundry service and/or meal preparation, and if we did it again, we might request dinner and housekeeping every 2-3 days and laundry service once to keep up with the inevitable sand, garbage removal, toilet paper/napkin/garbage bag supply needs. Our only disappointments were that there were no back stock of these items or purified water, and that the shower heads need replacement or deposit removal. Sara was very helpful.
El Cuyo is off the tourist route during winter, but offers an outdoor restaurant, El Conchito, street vendor foods, fresh produce vendors, bakeries, fish monger's shop, fisher's collectives, and mini-marts. It is easy and pleasant to walk the beach to town and shop. People are friendly but it is helpful to know some Spanish. We took 2 separate day trips, one to Ek Balam & cenote and Tizimin for groceries/liquor/ATM/gas, and one to Chichen Itza/cenote Habiku/lunch. They were both doable day-long trips, with much faster travel than Google Maps indicate.