Got the following note from Fred who recently went on a school trip to Ecuador and the Galapagos Islands—talk about an amazing school trip! Seems Fred and a few of his friends were all wearing toe shoes—both Vibram FiveFingers and those other toe shoes from Fila …
Anyway, here’s Fred’s account of how his Bikilas fared on the journey:
Hiking, walking on beaches, wading through streams in the cloud forest of Ecuador, walking across lava fields, boating, sunbathing, etc. Two other members of my group wore Komodosports and KSO’s (and another with Fila Skeletoes).
My Bikilas worked great for everything and kept most of the sand out. I especially liked how versatile they were for all the different surfaces we encountered in the Galapagos. They handled lava, sand, dirt, water, rocks, and everything mother nature could throw my way while both protecting the soles of my feet and also allowing me the great proprioception to really feel the ground underneath my feet. The breathable, quick drying fabric was great, too, because we had a few wet landings when disembarking for hikes on the islands.
A longtime follower and fan of BirthdayShoes,
Fred
Thanks for sharing, Fred! And let me know if you find any other photos from others on the trip!
3 replies on “Toe Shoes in Galapagos!”
Fred, did you compare the Bikilas to the Komodosports?
@Evert:
Not directly, no. He wore his even more extensively than I did and said they worked perfectly. The one thing I would say is that after inspecting the soles of my Bikilas, there was some noticeable wear and tear on the TPU portion of the sole under the arch of the foot. This was due to the sharpness of the lava flows we were walking on. If I were to be walking around on lava flows like this all the time I would want to get a different pair of fivefingers for a little bit more coverage underfoot, but for the short trip I was on the bikila’s worked fine. I imagine that the Komodosports were better, with more of the vibram rubber across the whole foot than the bikila. Hope this helps
Video recap of our trip for whoever is curious!
[video:youtube:XUPSMNQkFGY]
Not many shots of toe shoes but they were there, I promise! We just didn’t take too many pictures of our feet.