yeah, something i've not done a lot of in years. i'm in an environment now where i could get such contact. many of the "levadas" - aqueducts that route spring water from the north side to the south side of the island of Madeira, have nice flat dirt paths... it would be easy for me to find some places nearby where there'll be no residues of anything nasty and put a bit of clean soil bacteria in my gut and get my feet covered in it, and then finish up with washing my feet in the nearby stream.

i don't like crocs at all. plastic hipster garbage. but i get the point that they are letting dirt into your feet.

i wear a pair of minimal, african made Vivobarefoot shoes, for the biomechanical reasons. it's a little rough on the feet when most of the surfaces are dead flat pavement, but fortunately the portuguese tradition of mosaiced pavements gives a lot of areas where i can walk on very varied surfaces.