Magaluf, sex tourism, drugs, rampage and drunkenness

These are some of the ingredients that make up the recipe for "anything goes" and that make the Mallorcan town of Magaluf have been news practically every day in recent weeks. The drop that has filled the glass of this tourism of all you can drink is the fine of 55,000 euros and the closure for a year of the well-known bar in the city where they were made in exchange for alcohol. The Calvià Town Council has already notified that it will investigate this type of behaviour because it finds them harmful to the city's brand. The establishment in question -Playhouse- and the persons responsible for the company -Carnage Magaluf- will have to pay the fine for determining a sexual practice offence.

This week, El Ibérico spoke with Mallorcan photographer Javier Izquierdo, who spent three summers immortalising what was going on in that area of the island with a disposable camera. The excesses, drinks, rampant sex, drugs and alcohol without any control, by the guiris who decided to spend their holidays there.

English drunken tourism invades Magaluf

The Union Jack - the United Kingdom flag - flies on many of the balconies of the city's hotels, demonstrating the origin of those who have fun there, but this is not a fashion. It is a space that has been a focal point of tourism since its existence, with bars, nights, alcohol, beach, sex and drunkenness,"says the photographer who for so long has captured what was happening there.

The photographs of these carefree parties had to be shown, so the gallery owner of Izquierdo, Victoria Aguiló, decided to continue her work to exhibit them in La Real, her gallery, under the title #passionformagalluf. The name of the exhibition was chosen in reference to the #passionforpalma campaign, which had been carried out by the island's town hall,"to show the B side of the image of this area, which perhaps hides," explains Izquierdo.

The photographs are taken with disposable negative cameras that can be purchased for the modest price of three euros. This is because he had to infiltrate the tourists and go unnoticed by the party participants. The fact of taking photos with that camera made them see me as a freak because when they asked me why I was doing the photos and told them that I was doing a report, everyone laughed when they saw the camera I was carrying,"says the author remembering his days of work on the island.

Over these three years, Izquierdo has seen very dramatic situations. One of those he remembers most intensely is the one that happened to a mother who went into town to look for her 18-year-old son. He had been partying with his friends and after a week of excesses, they saw that the young man was behaving very strangely so they warned his mother. The woman arrived at Magaluf without knowing the language and without knowing very well what she was going to see there. The photographer decided to help her find her son. When he was examined, the doctors diagnosed him with a psychotic break because of everything he had taken and the lack of rest.