Iris overcame many fears and quickly progressed in areas where she had struggled before. Watching Iris at the beach was a beautiful experience, she used to be terrified of water and hate the sound of the waves. She waded in confidently and jumped for joy and excitement, loving the feeling of the sand which before had been a problem before with her sensory issues.
During the four weeks I got to see a completely different side to Iris. She seemed very grown up, almost like a teenager at times, independent and strong willed, verbalising what she wanted, and it gave me a hope I hadn’t dreamed of before. Seeing that independence in her gave me some peace in a way I hadn’t experienced up until that point. She would help me cook, unpack the car, dress herself, help pack the bag for our adventure that day, go to the loo herself, make her own snacks even looking after me if I was sick or felt exhausted. She would hold my hand in the car and tell me it was all going to be OK. Her social skills improved and she bonded and made friends with animals where ever we were, cats, dogs, birds, even playing and interacting with the owners of various places where we stayed.
The beauty of the forest is breathtaking and that includes all of the wildlife; everywhere you look you see something extraordinary and that is something that helped us all even in the low points. Sometimes the accommodation wasn’t what we were expecting: no internet access, terrible mattresses and no windows, which did make some nights extremely hard to get through. But then the day comes and it’s a whole different world. The views from the mountains and mists in the valleys in the early morning light. The brightly coloured hummingbirds, toucans and very naughty monkeys were all incredible to see, along with the volcanoes and waterfalls.
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