Religion relics and remedies

   Tucked away in the hipster-infested streets of Santa Ana's Artists Village, Yerba Mex Botanicals is a shop for the health-obsessed and superstitious alike. Shelves are lined with candles meant to bring good fortune or stave away bad vibes, some as specific as "Lucky Gambler" and some as vague as "Protection Against Harm."

   Some, such as "Red Dragon," serve no apparent purpose. Religious icons around the shop represent different ideologies, and the shop's founder and owner, Joe Lara, says he doesn't believe a word of it.

   A man of many paradoxes, Lara started his business 26 years ago. He sells products he believes in fervently (multivitamins, Tom's deodorant) along with products he scorns (the aforementioned candles). He is 84 but looks 60, worldly but wary of the World Wide Web, a vegetarian in a leather jacket.

   With a Buddha statue and a plaque reading "Shalom" looming in the background, Lara explains, "Jesus Christ is my Lord and savior, and for me that's enough. I don't need the organized religion." He stands firm in rejection of junk food and devotion to daily supplements — he has two crates' worth for his own use — otherwise Lara keeps an open mind.

   The number one seller at Yerba Mex is té tranquilo, a calming tea, followed by a treatment for urinary tract infections and kidney failure.

   "Social problems," Lara smirks. Lara doesn't drink, smoke, and says he has never taken a pharmaceutical product in his life.

   He is aware that most of his customers don't have the same lifestyle but he doesn't care. "If you like yourself, you take care of yourself. You don't want to follow anyone else."

   He pauses. Then, in true paradoxical fashion, asks, "Do you follow me?"