While in the Dominican Republic we drank a local drink called Mama Juana – Mama Juana is a mixture of bark and herbs left to soak in rum (most often dark rum but the use of white rum is not uncommon), red wine and honey. The solid ingredients (local leaves, sticks and roots) vary from region to region.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mama_Juana

I purchased a bottle (with just the twigs inside – no liquids) and bought it home to NZ. I declared it to customs and they said that since it had bark on the wood there may be bugs in there and it would not be allowed. The lady said she would get a second opinion and lucky for us since we were going to fill it with alcohol they would allow us to keep it.

The product label in  in Spanish and contained the following:

ESTE PRODUCTO

Revitaliza el vigor  sexual, limpia los rinones purifica la sangre, hecho a base de plantas naturales.

MODO DE EMPLEO

agregar: vino, ron o whisky, miel de aveja y pasas,dejar reposar por tres dias y luego beber en trago corto.

CONTIENE

Pega palo, maravelis, palo de brazil, canelilla, una de gato, clavos, etc

Google translated this to the following:

THIS PRODUCT

Revitalizes sexual vigor, purifies the kidneys clean the blood, made ​​from natural plants.

DIRECTIONS

add wine, rum or whiskey, aveja honey and raisins, let stand for three days and then drink in short drink.

CONTAINS

Paste stick maravelis, brazil club, canelilla a cat, nails, etc.

Not sure about the nails!

An update – on the 14th of June – we created out first Mama Juana drink.

We used the following procedure:

• We filled the bottle (shown above) with water and let it sit for a few days and then drained it. The water went all foamy and we did this a couple of times while we waited for some Rum to arrive.
• We found that although the bottle holds > 2 litres only about 1.1 litres fit because of all the wood inside the bottle.
• We mixed red wine – St Hallet Shariz/Granache about 400ml + about 300mg of runny honey – nothing special just simple honey and then added about 500ml or 600ml of gold rum.
• The mixture reminded us of a port taste which must have come from the wine.
• We put it in the bottle and are going to leave it for about a month
• After 12 hours I tried a little bit and I could taste a small flavour from the wood – still very much like port but another 4 weeks will be interesting.

We ate in the lobster house for lunch – just a light lunch.

Sparkling wine and make your own Bloody Mary’s with 3 different types of vodka.

A selection of breads and rolls

Raw fish and raw tuna along with Chicken Breast and Grouper, smoked salmon and capers. I have eaten a lot of the raw fish and salmon and tuna for my breakfasts.

A selection of cheese and cured meats

A selection of salad ingredients

Mostly taco’s, and other little Mexican finer foods.

Sauces

Compotes

Lots of juices and fresh berries

And then there is always, eggs, bacon, hash browns, omelettes, and heaps of other dishes that change daily.

This act was part of the circus show in Punta Cana.

And not long after the rain the afternoon was lovely again!