Don't know about Central and South America, but the more and more people I talk to about their recent travels in Mexico--and not just Baja peninsula--is that camping wasn't a problem, that you can pretty much camp anywhere, and just to get back off the road before dark.
To a person, they've all said that if you're camping on someone's property and someone comes by, just explain you're traveling a long way and would appreciate being able to stay there for the night. No one was turned away, but were actually welcomed. They also said, on the panel at Overland Expo East, that if you're traveling with a kid you're golden, as the people in Mexico are super family oriented and adore people involving their kids in daily life. If you have a dog, even more golden.
Having a van for this sort of trip makes a
lot of situations far easier for comfort, cleaning, cooking, amount of gear you can comfortably take, personal space, overnight stays, etc. Especially with a 5yo. I can't imagine, after traveling long trips in vans for so long, doing a multi-month trip in a 2 or 4 door vehicle. Just being able to move from the front seats to the back without going outside or climbing over things is huge.
You'll find that with having a van, you'll be able to rest a lot more places than you might think, otherwise. Sort of stealth camping. I've called my vans SUVs for a long time; Stealthy Urban Vehicles. Being able to catch a nap or longer snooze, or being able to let your child nap, or even sleep overnight when in urban environments, will be huge.
You'll also find in most vans, even just rear wheel drive, the ability to do a wider variety of roads and trails than you will in a rear wheel drive car. Higher clearance to start with, even without 4 wheel drive or any kind of lift, makes that possible. Getting an AWD drive is better. If you find a well-maintained 4x4 van with easily replaceable parts, even better still.
VAN LIVING, the Long Version
:
Because you're seriously considering a van, I'm going to be bold and make some vanlife suggestions that I hope will help make a decision, based on decades of being a vancamping guy around the continent.
My personal preference when setting up a van for long road trips has evolved to making it flexible and versatile in arrangement and not have a permanent platform across the back like so many do nowadays.
Being able to quickly and easily fold a panel up and out of the way, or remove it, to allow full pass through from the rear doors is really handy. Or just keep it an open pass through like the image below. This becomes more important the more people you have. When living out of a van flows more easily and you're not all three trying to get in and out the same side door, life is better. Easy life, happy people. Barn doors on the side are better than a sliding door, in my experience.
For third seating for your 5yo, I'd just keep one rear seat behind the driver and remove any other bench seats or other single seats. That way the front passenger can more easily tend to your child while in motion, the side doors will have greater access to everything when stopped, and access to the rear from the front will be much easier without going outside. Having a more open central part of the van will be a blessing.
First image below is from six years ago traveling with my adult child. My van looks a lot different inside now, but for this trip to the borderlands it was arranged like the image below.
Full length sleeping areas on each side with a full-length pass through all the way to the front seats. It's an extended body van, so about ten feet of space inside to the front seats. If needed, I can haul twelve foot lengths of lumber or pipe or whatever and still close the doors. I can put two bikes down the middle and still close the doors. Not having stuff hanging off the van outside all the time makes it less of a target and less to worry about if away from the van for awhile.
The bed on the right is in front of the white cabinet and stretches forward to the side doors. The cabinet has sliding basket drawers for a number of things like clothes, kitchen stuff, and towels, etc. On the left side is a bit of open storage, then a full length but narrow bed, then the white bulkhead. On the other side of the bulkhead is a closet from floor to ceiling, and in front of that is storage behind the driver's seat.
I've found leaving it set up like this worked well for vancamping in a variety of situations. We didn't do any rough off-roading, though we did do a bunch of dirt roads and didn't really need to tie or strap anything down. Stuff slid around a bit on rougher portions, but not dangerously. Items were more secured for higher speed travel.
View attachment 51008
Below is pretty much how I use the same van now. Even more flexible than above. The half bulkhead on the left is movable. Not like every day movable, though it can be positioned anywhere along the length of the left side to accommodate different layouts depending on whether I am using the van as transport when building something, or vancamping, or need the entire space to make money hauling cargo.
The bed going sideways where the pillow is, is a lightweight folding plywood platform. It can be very easily and quickly stowed away, cushions and all, just the other side of the left bulkhead. When having another person along for a trip, I bring along a second folding bed platform and two more upholstered mattress quality cushions and set the beds up along each side as above.
Each end of the bed platform when sideways rests on the side cabinets and needs only one container under the middle to sufficiently support it for sitting and sleeping.
In that arrangement, it can be easily and quickly slid anywhere along the entire length of the van.
Very handy when I want more 'living space' on the other side of the bed accessible from the side doors. The bed can also go sideways just the other side of the bulkhead, which places it directly behind the seats, allowing for a full eight feet of open cargo space to the rear doors. That's pretty handy too, sometimes.
When arranging the bed platform(s) lengthwise along either side, the outside edge of the bed platform rests on the side cabinet and three containers support the inboard edge.
The side cabinets are built at the same height as the containers (simple cheap but strong plastic containers from Target that I made birch ply tops for) and provides for a wide variety of layouts and versatility in function.
The side cabinets have easily removed tops (no hinges, or lids to have to hold open) and hold a
huge amount of gear, tools, vehicle fluids, etc and help keep the center of gravity low. They are full width at the rear door opening and funnel down to 51" parallel as they go forward. That way anything bulky or being loaded on a pallet self-centers and can be strapped down to the e-track (bottom pic).
For my next long trip cross-country I'll be switching it up again; changing the left side cabinet to better accommodate a pullout for the fridge with storage above and a new Nature's Head commode right behind that with a pull curtain for privacy. Bench/bed space ahead of that. Right side will stay pretty much as is and can accomodate my eBike.
I'll also add molle panels and grips on the rear doors and side walls to better attach and store a variety of lighter weight things like clothes and more often accessed items like shovels and axes when on the trail.
View attachment 51009
The foundation of it all makes for an easily modifiable, very versatile vehicle in which to haul stuff, travel in, live out of, etc.
View attachment 51013
All this to say that vans can make your trip SO much more enjoyable, and that getting a van you can inexpensively modify to your tastes will greatly enhance how easy it can make life. Getting a van that is already rigged out with plush seats and cloth interiors is inviting unhappiness when going on a long multi-purpose trip cross-continent.
If there is anything I can do as far as sources for parts, ideas, brainstorming, links to other van setups, etc as you get a van together, let me know.
Happy to help make your trip a more pleasurable one if I can.
Dry roads and open skies. . .
Road
.
