Vibram Five Fingers KSOs 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 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.

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!