'My time in Tenerife showed me the island's seedy underbelly - tourists have to keep their wits about them'

At the age of 20 after completing my second year in college I jetted off to Tenerife with a friend for the biggest adventure of our young lives.

We had jobs as bartenders set up and our own apartment just minutes from all the action in Playa De Las Americas - the island’s party capital.

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.

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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.

The story of missing 19-year-old Jay Slater has dominated headlines over the past week.

It’s every parent's worst nightmare to watch their teenager go off on their first holiday with friends, and not have them return.

Missing Jay Slater
(Image: Instagram)

The British teen attended a music festival in the south of Tenerife. He hasn’t been seen in over two weeks, and on Sunday police called off search operations.

Seven years ago, working and living in Tenerife was everything I expected - so much so that I returned the following summer to work another season. While I got paid less than €4 an hour and served drinks six nights a week, I was having the time of my life.

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.

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.

Ciara O'Loughlin in Tenerife in 2018 when she worked on the island

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).

I saw other bars which had dealers that stayed in the venue for the night. I saw many young people working on the strip getting into sticky situations with these dealers and I don’t think they realised the potential danger they were putting themselves in. If they referred a tourist looking for drugs to a dealer, they would receive €10. 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.

While drinking on the job was heavily promoted, there were consequences if you got too drunk. The consequence? A €50 fine, more than we made in a single night. We also had to work three or four hours one morning every week to deep clean the bar. If you didn’t show up, that was also a €50 fine.

While the two summers I spent there were certainly ones to remember, I feel lucky that I didn’t run into any serious trouble - except when my handbag was snatched right out of my arm when I was walking home.

Every country or city has issues, but these party places appear to run in their own little lawless societies. To any young people going on your first party holiday, have a ball, but have your wits about you.