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El Dorado: Light Beyond Life

In 2003, I founded a small side project called FinancialGym — my first real attempt to understand and teach how our brain and emotions shape financial decisions. On Saturdays, I ran conferences and Excel workshops for middle‑class families, helping them build financial plans. It didn’t pay the bills, but it planted a seed — a curiosity about the deeper forces that guide our choices.

Years later, my corporate career took me to the U.S., and that seed sprouted into La bicicleta financiera (ebook on Amazon, in Spanish) and the Bicifi App, designed to help middle‑ and low‑income families gain not only tools but inner clarity. I wanted them to see how emotions, the mind, greed, and fear play into money decisions. My research deepened with books, mentors, and eventually the Certified Financial Planner diploma at Florida Atlantic University. I finished the academic program, but personal illness stopped me from pursuing full certification. That illness was a wake‑up call, forcing me to confront my deepest fears with the help of skilled therapists, coaches, and surgeons.

Then came DUO, a couples app built to connect people through shared purpose — a dream that didn’t take off but peeled away another layer of ego.

By then, I knew I needed to pause. Not to quit, but to go inward.

Life had shaken me again, so I prayed for something more than ideas — I asked God for a practical Catholic faith I could live daily. That prayer opened the door to psico‑spiritual retreats and work with a world‑class therapist. I dove into contemplative prayer and silence, and something in me cracked open.

That inner work led me back to Colombia’s coffee region for a family reunion at Sazagua, a 5‑star farm surrounded by ancient trees and Tree of Life artwork. Only later did I learn this land once belonged to the Quimbaya civilization.

The Quimbaya believed gold was not currency but the earthly reflection of the sun’s light and vitality — a way to carry inner light in the physical world. For them, gold embodied the divine spark within each person. When a leader died, gold was buried with them, not as vanity but to restore balance between worlds and guide the soul back to its source. It was the light returning to the sun.

Spanish conquistadors, unable to grasp this meaning, saw only “treasure.” When they mixed these burial practices with the Muisca ritual of a gold‑covered chief diving into Lake Guatavita, the legend of El Dorado was born — a city of endless wealth. In truth, much of the Quimbaya’s “treasure” was already underground, offered back to the earth in an act of cosmic reciprocity.

Standing on that land, the Quimbaya belief struck me: our true gold is not stored away — it’s meant to be shared. That realization became Sazagua (ebook on Amazon – Spanish), my first novel. Not a product, but a whisper from within, a tribute to the light in each of us that cannot be silenced.

In Catholic terms, that light is God within us — not distant or unreachable, but here, now, in our bodies, in our work, in our service to others.

That is what hugoaristides.com is about: finding and sharing that gold from within.

It’s why I’ve chosen not to fix a price on my services. My commitment is to bring full presence and excellence to my day job, while dedicating after‑hours to build this space. Let the value define the price.

This is not a business plan or pitch deck. It’s the convergence of experience, failures, insights, and faith — a call to stop talking about “changing the world” and instead live it, build it, be it.

If you feel the same tension between who you are and who you’re meant to be, you are welcome here. If you can’t pay, you’re still welcome. If you don’t find value, tell me so I can improve. If you do find value, and wish to contribute, share what you found meaningful and make a donation.

Because in the end, El Dorado was never a place.It was always the light beyond life — the gold we carry inside.

Quimbaya Gold Object Stolen by Spain and nowadays at the Americas Museum in Madrid

As you embark on this journey, keep in mind that every effort counts. Embrace the process, and enjoy the transformation that comes with it.