Packing a hammock

Hello,
I'm planning an extended trip through Central America next year and have a ton of questions. I've already read through most of the posts here and they have been very helpful. I was wondering how many people bring a lightweight hammock with them and what everyones thought were on how useful it would be. I'm thinking it would be nice to have to lounge around but I have no experience using one.

Any advise or real world experience would be appreciated.

I did it once, and wound up dumping the hammock after a few days. Anywhere they are practical, they are abundant. Carrying a hammock to Central America is akin to packing sand to bring to a beach holiday.

For my 30th birthday, I spent a month in Cuba, Mexico and Belize.
My best friend had given me a present to take with me, under strict orders not to open it until my actual birthday, which was half way through the trip.
I was sitting in a hammock, with about 4 more within a 10 metre radius, when I unwrapped ... you guessed it, the hammock she'd bought me!

Luckily it was one of the lightweight string jobbies so I've forgiven her for maknig me lug it round unnecessarily but I'm not sure she's fully forgiven me for not once using her very thoughtful gift on my trip.

No, you don't need to take a hammock.

Thanks for the replies. That's a pretty funny story Lucky Luke. That will save me some room in the pack as well as a few bucks.

One thing you might pack though is a small inflatable air mattress if you intend to venture into the jungles or highlands and do any camping. I didn't take one on a 110 mile trip to Nakbe and El mirador and slept in a pup tent on a 1/4" pad, on the very hard ground and i swear i had to shift every 15 minutes to releive the ache on that side and start the ache on another., and do that quitetly and unobtruvivly as my parnter was sharing the pup tent experience with me and enjoying 6 nights with very little sleep interpersed with forced marches of 15 to 25 miles per day on a ration of dog shit. I was happy i could do it in my early 60's but holy smokes i would have done some unnatural acts to have gotten my mitts on a good air mattress.

I didn't start out with a hammock but bought one in Honduras. Ever since its become one of the first things I get out of my bag and definitely gets tons of use. It does take up a lot of bag room, but for me its worth it to have a comfy lounge spot wherever I go.