Soggy Bread Crumbs

Since we will arrive in Costa Rica during the rainy season, even if we were to lay bread crumbs along our trails, they would quickly succumb to the elements and become nothing more than soggy blobs to be consumed by the many critters attempting to make a decent living. As we peruse through our belongings and decide what joins us on the trip, we learned that our leather hiking boots, so dependable on the trails here in the States will not be very practical on the muddy road through Monteverde. Their 'waterproof' status will be challenged, their low snug fit means our pant bottoms will be coated with muck, and the continued supply of H2O might even result in deterioration of its organic parts before the rainy season ends in December. 

While visiting this April, I was informed that a total of three types of footware should suffice for year round living at 4700 feet in a tropical zone. First, rugged sandals for the dry season from December through April, then, a pair of gym shoes for backup and general use, and finally a pair of tall rubber boots for keeping our feet dry and the mud at bay. We are set in the shoe category of packing. All of my shoes are the slip on type to ease transitions between the classroom, the trails and our front door. It is customary to remove dirty footware at the door as I learned at the school where many kids and teachers comfortably walked about in their socks. This seemed rather strange at first as I have always insisted that people where shoes in the science classroom. It was highlighted even more when we had an earthquake drill and we were informed to remove our socks before heading outside. Fortunately, there was no earthquake, I am now a qualified earthquake drill participant and only the soles of my feet were wet from walking on the moist grass outside.  Signed M