Yuku free message boards

SYDNEY, AUSTRALIA (October 6, 2008) Super-sexy Cuban-American actress Eva Mendes dumbfounded members of the Australian medical profession recently by telling newspapers there she believed sunscreens with a high SPF factor "also protect against Santeria curses."

During a Biondi beach shoot for Harper's Bazaar in Sydney, which coincided with an appearance at ACP's 30 Days of Fashion and Beauty Festival, Mendes told press and photogs in attendance that the unusual power of SPF was something her grandmother taught her as a child.

"I would always put up a big fight about putting on suntan lotion on the beach, until finally my grandmother informed me that SPF stood for Santeria Protection Force, and that I needed to put it on in order to keep the goblins away," said Mendes. "It's something my whole family believes."

Santeria is a Cuban-based religion famous for its hexes and curses.

But lest you think she is overly superstitious, Mendes is careful to add: "Unlike Jennifer Lopez, I am not a major practitioner of Santeria."

Mendes does admit one other exception: She "often" wears a Santeria amulet when walking down Rodeo Drive to "protect myself from overspending."

The amulet she wears on those shopping sprees contains the Santeria oil Amansa Guapo, which is used to "tame bullies."

"Some of the Rodeo Drive shop clerks can be super-aggressive," said the star of the catfight classic remake "The Women," currently playing to rave reviews in theaters nationwide. "Especially the ones working on commission."

Coincidentally, Mendes plays a commission-based department store perfume counter clerk in "The Women" who gets tangled up with a married man - a role played by Joan Crawford in the 1939 original.

"But overall, like the song says, 'I don't practice Santeria, I ain't got no crystal ball,'" Mendes smiled.

Mendes was apparently making reference to lyrics in the song "Santeria" by the group Sublime, made famous in the 2007 Judd Apatow film "Knocked Up."

Starring Seth Rogen, Katherine Heigl, Paul Rudd, and Leslie Mann, the film follows the repercussions of a drunken one-night stand between Rogen's slacker character and Heigl's just-promoted media personality character that results in an unintended pregnancy. It was also featured in a short-lived show produced by Apatow, "Undeclared."