When I first arrived at Florianopolis, Brazil I met lots of people and there was a small group of us hanging out together. As we were learning about eachother and hobbies and what not, I heard something I didn’t believe at first.
Adrian, an Austrian travelling with his sister, told us his hobby was fighting in full armour – Game of thrones style. At first I didn’t believe him, as I thought he was saying it to be funny. But sure enough, after intense questioning and showing us some pictures/videos it was true.
My initial perception was it would be kind of like play fighting, but this was far from the truth. The competitors wore full armoured metal suits that can weigh up to 25kg and weild real swords. The videos of Adrian competitions showed how brutal and violent a sport it can be – not something I’ll be doing any time soon!
Not only did I not realise this was a thing, but I didn’t realise quite how popular it was. Adrian had even continued some of his ‘knight training’ (I don’t know what it’s called), here in Brazil. In my mind the two were worlds apart – but apparently not.
This is part of one of my favourite things about travelling. I have been lucky enough to meet so many different kinds of people from all kinds of walks of life. There have been people who I have had many things in common with and those that I didn’t have much in common with, likewise I have made friends with people who sit in both camps.
Forrester Word 