India sounds like a barefooters' dream. Thanks for sharing!

BR


--- In BarefootRick@yahoogroups.com, "Barefoot Traveller"
<barefootingindia@...> wrote:
>
> It's summertime again – at least in South India! I'm just back from
> a trip to Tamil Nadu, and as usual, I was traveling barefoot – with
> no footwear in my backpack. Summertime in India means: Temperatures
> have crossed the 35 C° mark and the pavement gets REALLY hot, at
> least between 12 noon and 3 pm. No wonder that the sight of a
> ferengi (foreigner) walking barefoot on a tarred road caused a
> considerable amount of curiosity among the locals: I don't know how
> often I heard the same question – "You're walking barefoot? Isn't
it
> too hot?" My answer remained the same: "Not at all, I'm used to it"
> I said, giving the curious shopkeeper, innkeeper or street hawker a
> big smile. Don't get fooled: People are wondering how a FOREIGNER
> can bear the heat, but that doesn't mean I'm the only one roaming
> around on bare soles! Not at all: It has been long since I've seen
> SO many people walking barefoot - happily and carefree! At the bus
> stand or railway station, in the market or in the fields, in the
> village or in town… People of all ages, men, woman and children,
> villagers and sadhus as well as college kids and well-dressed
> businessmen… Their dark feet are dusty but healthy. They walk with
> self confidence, and the characteristic widened gap between the big
> and the index toe shows me why: They're USED TO a life on bare
> soles! Walking barefoot in the heat – it's normal for them! No
harm…
> Well, same with me! J My strong bare feet are evenly tanned,
> the "gap" is there too… And my soles are tough, REALLY TOUGH! The
> constant exposure to hot tarmac, gravel and sharp rocks only adds
> additional layers of protective leather – one after the other.
> Walking barefoot in the heat of the summer – it's NO PROBLEM for
me,
> I'm feeling totally comfortable! Which shows: Our feet are MEANT TO
> BE BARE, and as soon as we free them from their prisons (shoes)
they
> start to adapt to our new, barefoot lifestyle, regaining their
> natural strength and toughness! An article somewhere out there in
> the WWW puts it this way:
> "As much of that early walking was probably done barefoot. No one
> knows when the first shoes, probably sandals, were invented. But if
> you go outside barefoot a lot, you may notice that the bottoms of
> your feet get tough (and dirty) and you can walk almost anywhere
> without hurting them. People who walk barefoot all the time - and
> about a billion of them live on the planet today - develop a thick
> layer of keratin on the soles of their feet. This is the same
> material that hair, horns, and claws are made of. With their
> toughened soles, they can walk over rocks, thorns, and even hot
> coals (though not many people try this)."
>
(http://www.findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_qa4128/is_200502/ai_n95208
> 30)
> For more information on the joys of living barefoot, visit the
> extensive Link-section of my Yahoo Group "The Barefoot Traveller's
> Tepee" with more than 130 links (growing!) about all aspects of a
> life without shoes:
> http://groups.yahoo.com/group/barefoottravelling/links
>