You can tour on a road bike friday, its all marketing hype. Yes, you can put tires as wide as 2" on a NWT, but you can go 1.35" on a road model which is plenty wide even for packed dirt.

I toured from chiapis to guatemala on my bike friday pocket rocket pro. The only issue may be whether he has a model that accepts a front rack (all accept rear racks, pocket rockets have both, pros just take rear), and how much weight the bike accepts vs the rider plus luggage weight. You guys are small so unless he has a pocket pro petite you'll be fine.