CLUB'S BLOG

The herbal liqueur behind one of the peninsula’s most enduring legends

Walk through the desert hills of Baja California Sur and you might pass it without a second glance: a small, woody shrub with fragrant yellow flowers. Its name is damiana, and for generations it has been part of life on the peninsula. It was steeped as a tea, kept as a folk remedy, and eventually transformed into the region’s most distinctive liqueur.

A Local Story

Long before the missions arrived, the Guaycura people, who lived across much of what is now Baja California Sur from Todos Santos to Loreto, are credited with discovering the plant’s uses. Over time, damiana leaves were infused in spirits and sweetened with honey or sugar, and by some accounts the liqueur was already being sold in La Paz in the nineteenth century. Folklore has also long credited damiana with romantic powers, a reputation that remains firmly in the realm of legend and is very much part of its charm.

Today, the best-known bottle is hard to miss. Guaycura Licor de Damiana comes in a curved glass bottle shaped like a female figure, a nod to fertility that has made it a favorite keepsake for visitors.

What It Tastes Like

Damiana is sweet, herbal, and softly floral, often compared to chamomile and honey, with a light, woody finish. It’s lovely on its own over ice, but it’s in a margarita that it becomes something to share.

The Margarita Question

Who invented the margarita is still debated, with competing claims from Tijuana to Ensenada and beyond. In Baja California Sur, however, local lore holds that the very first margarita was made with damiana instead of orange liqueur. Historians may never settle the matter, but the story has earned damiana a lasting place behind bars across the region.

The Club’s Damiana Margarita

Our bar team shared the recipe they prepare at the Club. It’s simple enough to make at your villa, and a lovely way to surprise family and friends with a taste of Baja.

•  2 oz tequila
•  ½ oz damiana liqueur
•  ½ oz Cointreau
•  1 oz fresh lime juice
•  Salt for the rim (optional)
•  Lime wheel, to garnish

Shake the tequila, damiana, Cointreau, and lime juice with ice. Strain over fresh ice into a salt-rimmed glass and finish with a lime wheel.

Prefer to leave it to us? It isn’t on the menu, but our bartenders will gladly prepare one for you at the Club. Just ask.

If You Go: Todos Santos

To trace damiana back to its roots, spend a day in Todos Santos, about an hour north of Cabo San Lucas along the Pacific coast. These were Guaycura lands, home to a local band known as the Uchiti, until the Jesuits founded the mission of Santa Rosa de las Palmas here in 1733.

Begin at the town plaza and its church, home to the statue of the Virgin of the Pillar, then walk a few blocks to the Centro Cultural Prof. Néstor Agúndez. Set in a former schoolhouse with 1930s murals, it holds a regional history museum and the Casa del Ranchero Sudcaliforniano, a portrait of rural life on the peninsula. From there, the cobblestone streets lead past galleries, artisan shops, and old buildings from the town’s days as the sugarcane capital of Baja, among them the restored nineteenth-century house that is now Hotel Guaycura.

And while you explore, keep an eye out for a bottle of damiana to bring home.

The next time you raise a glass this season, make it one with a little local history in it. Salud!