A woman who travelled to Tenerife as a student has warned the island has urged people to "stay alert" as the island has a "dark side".
The case of missing 19-year-old Jay Slater has been making headlines over the past few weeks. It's every parent's worst fear to wave their teenager off on their first holiday with friends, only for them not to return.
It is now more than three weeks since Jay was last seen on the island of Tenerife on June 17. The teenager was holidaying with friends Lucy Law, 18, and Brad Hargreaves, 19, and had been partying at the Papagayo nightclub in Playa de las Americas the night before he vanished.
Jay, from Oswaldtwistle, Lancashire, left a rave in Tenerife by car with two British men and stayed the night at an Airbnb in the middle of a rural village before vanishing. The trip was Jay's first ever time travelling abroad. He was last heard from on the morning of Monday, June 17 as he attempted to make his way back to the touristy town of Los Christianos, where he had been staying with Lucy and Brad.
READ MORE: Jay Slater's best friends head back to UK as heartbroken family continues search
On Tuesday, police insisted that several lines of enquiry were still being pursued, as a source close to the case denied reports that investigators were working on the basis Jay was now 'missing feared dead'. Asked whether the investigation had moved on and police now had a clearer idea of what had happened to Jay, a spokesman for the Civil Guard said: "The investigation is ongoing and several lines of inquiry are being pursued."
Ciara O'Loughlin shared her experience living and working in Tenerife with her friend as a 20-year-old student. The pair secured jobs as bartenders and lived in an apartment just minutes from all the action in Playa De Las Americas - the island’s party capital. They earnt less than €4 an hour serving drinks six nights a week, but Ciara said she was "having the time of my life".
Ciara told the Irish Mirror: "Most of all, we were excited to have some independence. Like many young tourists on the island, it was our first time tasting such freedom. The resort has the recipe for a perfect party holiday - a beautiful beach with boat parties galore, dozens of bars with quality DJs selling cheap drinks, and other like-minded tourists up for having fun.
"But, there is a serious drug underworld operating on the island. It’s not hard to see how some Irish and Brits abroad can get caught up in trouble by innocently stepping on the wrong toes." She went on to explain how there was an unspoken obligation to drink on the job - but excessive drinking was the least of their worries.
"We spent our days laying by the pool or the beach, our nights drinking on the job and our free time getting guestlist access to the best festivals and parties," she said. "While many work nights were fun because we could drink on the job, you felt like you had to drink. In these bars aimed at tourists, bartenders are expected to do more than serve drinks. We had to be fun and upbeat, and when the bar crawls came in it was time to stand on the bar and teach several dances before pouring shots into their mouths.
"Hopping up onto the bar certainly wasn’t my thing- which prompted my manager to tell me that I 'needed to be more fun like the other girls'. I ended up leaving that venue and I got a much nicer gig serving drinks to hen and stag dos in a Karaoke bar (this didn’t do much for my faith in love though, too many brides and grooms went home with the stripper)."
Ciara witnessed other bars entrenched in darker dealings, harbouring dealers within their midst throughout the night. Numerous young workers on the strip, naive to the grave risks, found themselves ensnared in precarious situations linked to these dealers. Directing drug-seeking tourists to these dealers would net them a quick €10.
Meanwhile, while drinking on the job was heavily promoted, you would be fined €50 if you got too drunk, which was more than she made in a night. and staff also had to work three or four hours one morning every week to deep clean the bar and would also be fined €50 if you did not.
She added: "Looking back, I can now see how myself and my friend sometimes had to beg for tips to be able to afford water - while others appeared to be living more comfortable lifestyles.
"The two summers I spent there were certainly memorable, but I consider myself fortunate not to have encountered any serious issues - except for the time my handbag was forcefully taken from me as I walked home. Every country or city has its problems, but these party destinations seem to operate within their own lawless microcosms. To all young people embarking on your first party holiday, enjoy yourselves, but stay alert."