Ajijic newcomer Lisa Jorgensen has written a down-to-basics “how to” book about everything you ever wanted to know about living at Lake Chapala but didn’t even know the questions to ask. Many in the community seem a little put off by what they consider to be Jorgensen’s audaciousness in writing about the area to which she is so new. In fact, she began writing the book in her head during her drive here from the United States’ Midwest. She began to write in earnest one month after she moved in. The book was finished and in print four months later. Audacious or not, her book “Moving to Mexico’s Lake Chapala” is a popular one, chock full of information about what folks need to do before they move here, how to get settled, Mexican laws, immigration advice, medical care, banking, personal safety and early observations about living at Lake Chapala. Here Jorgensen talks with Jeanne Chaussee about her book, experiences and plans for the future.
Why would you start writing a book about living in Mexico so soon after you had arrived?
While I was driving down I was thinking about the fact that there was a lot missing in the available travel books. There are some wonderful books that talk about the wonderful places and how to get to them but there isn’t much out there that tells you how to actually get stuff done. Things that tell you what to do once you get here. How you get your life put back together, or put together in a new way. I decided that if I were going to write a book, I should do it right then while it was still all fresh in my head. So, I wrote the book that I would have wanted to read before I came here.
But a lot of people just get here and then figure out what to do, piece by piece.
That’s okay too but you could end up losing a lot of sleep.
Many people here think that you’re audacious to write a book making you out to be the maven of how to live in Mexico.
I know. That was the first reaction people had when I told them what I was doing. I won’t mention any names, but one person said that it was “beyond laughable.” They really don’t think that I have the right but I don’t need anyone’s permission to write a book, and I’m writing one specifically for newcomers. Who better to write it than a newcomer?”
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