Walking on the cobbled stone path, climbing an old Narra staircase, looking through Capiz windows -- I felt like I had stepped back in time to the Spanish colonial period in the 1800s.  It was so authentic that I imagined the Spanish sentries clad in khakis and armed with bolt-action rifles, marching around the structures with synchronized movement.

For a while, I had forgotten that we had just driven 150-kms from Manila to this place in Bataan, on a 2013 Isuzu Crosswind.

The constant bestseller of Isuzu Philippines Corp. since it was introduced 12 years ago, had brought us to this place back in time in very comfortable and spacious arrangements.  No wonder that the Crosswind continues to attract loyal buyers (there are now more than 60,000 of them) who drive their Crosswinds proudly through traffic, floods and in a few weeks – through the long roads leading to summer destinations.

Isuzu Philippines Corp had named the Road Trip – a Date with the Crosswind – in time for the Valentine month.  On that weekend, the date brought us to Las Casas Filipinas de Acuzar in Bataan.

On a 40-hectare plot of the huge property, the neighborhood from the Old World stood for people like us who were curious about the past.

It was truly an educational trip for me and my 22-year-old daughter Crissie, now graduating college.