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Vibram Five Fingers KSOs in Costa Rica

Vibram Five Fingers fan, Glen, on his recent vacation in Costa Rica:Last month my wife and I went on vacation to Costa Rica and I just couldn’t wait to get out and use my KSOs in a foreign place. I usually use them to workout in: running, boxing and…

VFF fan Glen took his KSO Vibram Five Fingers on his recent vacation to Costa Rica. During the trip Glen got the opportunity to rappel, go horseback riding, hike, and trek through some serious mud!

Here’s Glen on his experience, along with a number of great photos!

Last month my wife and I went on vacation to Costa Rica and I just couldn’t wait to get out and use my KSOs in a foreign place. I usually use them to workout in: running, boxing and plyometrics. While vacationing I took my KSOs on hikes through the rain forest, rappelled down cliffs and waterfalls, amazed a group of kids with them, and even met some other travelers that were awestruck by my little toes, oh and also rode a horse for the first time!

They worked out perfectly on our rappelling adventure where getting wet was inevitable…unfortunately for a couple that was with us they were wearing ‘regular’ Nike running shoes and throughout the activities they were stuck in wet socks and totally drenched sneakers….can you say “squish-squish”– they would often tell me that I was the most prepared with the shoes I had on. A couple of them were familiar with the ideas of the benefits of being ‘barefoot’, so I had to put on my VFF salesman cap on and broke down all the benefits that I get from wearing them, from strengthening my feet; improving my lower leg strength; balance etc etc.. While rappelling my KSOs gave me a great feel of the rock walls and the freedom of not worrying about getting my shoes wet and totally ruining them.

Horseback riding was a workout in itself, since it was my first time riding a horse I didn’t know how much work went into it, luckily for me I wasn’t lugging around heavy hiking boots, but instead my virtually weightless KSOs!

Finally during a 4 hour hike to Rio Celeste the terrain was very tricky to navigate through, from muddy trails, to slippery rocks, I quickly found that using my toes helped in gripping tree roots that gave me some sort of traction throughout the hike. Our tour guide was wearing some knee high rubber boots, which I clearly didn’t think of packing for our trip….often times I would fall behind a little from the guide and my wife due to the fact I had to pick my steps wisely and walk a little slower than usual, but after it was all said and done I was glad I wore them.

The mud would have definitely weighed down some hiking boots and it gave me the natural interaction with the wet land that I have never set foot on…I got to feel the different textures of the Earth and it made the hike very enjoyable. My KSOs also helped while walking in shoulder high fresh water at the base of a truly beautiful waterfall, which had a ton of little rocks on the river bed.

Glen and his wife in Costa Rica.

The only negative aspect that they gave me was I noticed during the hike, my eyes were focused down on my footing a little too much, and I would forget to look up and take in the lush green surroundings of the forest, but that’s the price you pay if you don’t want to trip and fall.

I suggest everyone who is going to vacation to Costa Rica that VFFs will make your trip even more memorable and one of a kind! Pura Vida!

Great photos, Glen! Costa Rica certainly offers a variety of adventures to put your VFFs to the outdoors-test. Thanks for sharing!

By Britt

Hailing from College Station, Texas (Home to Texas A&M!), I grew up running cross country. Believe it or not, I gave Justin the name for this site back in early 2009 but I didn't jump on the toe shoes bandwagon until a year later. I am also really into quadcopters and drones and have a blog called OddCopter.com.

8 replies on “Vibram Five Fingers KSOs in Costa Rica”

I visit the site everyday, so its a trip seeing me on it when the page opens haha. Thanks for posting my story Justin! Love the site.

Sweet pics!
I know just what you mean about looking down over tough terrain,a pair of Treks solved that.

Ordered my KSO Treks a day ago. Can’t wait to wear them during classes in the summer. Haters gonna hate but I don’t care.

That horse looks seriously underfed if you ask me. You can see the bones through the skin already.

That’s awesome Glen… looks like an adventure of a lifetime! The thought of ‘feeling the earth’ sounds very captivating. I may need to pick me up a pair now! You may need to take a part time job as a VFF salesman!

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