Part 2: Wild breakfast and great tasting coffee in Agsimao

A typical wooden house in Barangay Agsimao in Tineg

This adventure trip to two of Tineg’s not so known waterfalls consists of several parts. Read PART 1 | PART 2 | PART 3 | PART 4

Barangay Agsimao is beautiful. Cool climate, mountainous. You won’t feel the remoteness of this place as there are several wooden houses and the people are warm and friendly. We headed to one of the houses to have breakfast and along the way, there were orchids hung along the elementary school’s porch. Ah, I like it here.

I like the architecture of the houses. High, made of wood. But curiously the thin posts that support the houses stands on rock. Each post has its own. There are sliding window panels that recalls of traditional Filipino houses in the lowlands but instead of capiz shells that are translucent, are corrugated sheets.

Access to the second floor is through a steep and wide wooden ladder with narrow planks. The house we were having breakfast at is connected by a common landing to the next house occupied by the daughter and her family. Beside these houses are the agamang, rice granaries with an architecture that is typical Itneg and can be seen along the roads in the interior towns of Abra.

Inside, it was spacious but private rooms are partitioned off. I do love the floor as it was all wood and cool that we immediately laid down, tired from the long and tiring trip, exhausted from passing through rough roads. And hungry.

A few minutes passed as we were awaken from our brief slumber, breakfast was served. On the table was paksiw nga palileng, stewed fresh water fish cooked in vinegar. This fish is rather common in Abra’s cold and pristine rivers. There was pugot, red rice and a bowl of linnggeng nga laman, boiled wild boar meat.

But it was the great tasting brewed coffee that I definitely liked about the breakfast. I was not really enthusiastic with the palileng, sorry, but I’m a bit picky sometimes, and made do with the boar’s meat. But the coffee? Better than I expected. Such body, such aroma. I had to ask for another cup.

Just as I was about to empty my cup, we were told to get ready for the trip to the waterfalls.