So I should have known that when the day began with a mouse in the bungalo that it would spark a chain reaction of crap.
We woke up that morning around 9:00 AM, the alarm didn't go off, and were rushed to pack up, check out, and catch our pre arranged ride to the bus stop at the park 7 km away. We made it just in time, but were still groggy and little moody. A bus pulled up RIGHT as we were getting out of the car.... so I considered us lucky. The bus was headed 130 km away to Zadar, the nearest city. We needed to get to a city fast because we had hardly ANY cash. As it turned out, we didn't even know if we had enough to catch the bus. So as the bus driver stopped, got out to put our backpacks in the luggage compartment, he asked, "Where to?"
We replied, "Zadar."
He says, "Zadar, good."
We asked, "How much?"
He shrugged his freakin' shoulders.
So we asked again, "How much?"
He shrugged again and said, "How much, how much... does not matter."
Oh, yes, it did matter.
So we got on the bus. I remember Mike muttering, "We are so screwed."

The bus took off and it was about 5 to 7 minutes before the bus attendant guy got up and made his way back to us to collect our money.
We asked again, "How much?"
And he shows us on his archaic, old type writer looking receipt printer, "70 kuna."
"70 kuna each? Or 70 kuna both?" we ask.
He points to both of us, "70 kuna."
"Each or both? Together or separate?" we asked again.
He points to me and says, "70 kuna," then he points to Mike and says, "70 kuna."
"Crap. All we have is 87 kuna between the two of us."
He doesn't understand this, and nods his head and says, "70 kuna."
So we say, "For both?"
And he nods his head.
So I give him 70 kuna.
Then he shakes his head and points to both of us, "70 kuna."
Crap.
We only have 87 kuna.
I show him in my hands the 87 kuna and say, "That's all."
He promptly stands up, yells at the driver to pull over, and we immediately get kicked off the bus. Right then and there. No if's, and's, but's about it.
To make matters worse, we were kicked off the bus in the middle of nowhere. No ATM's, no cities nearby, no freakin' villages even...... yikes.
It was all a bit chaotic. We are standing there kind of bewildered when this teeny tiny little kitten comes up to us out of the tall grass and lets out one of the deepest, huskiest "Meow's" I have ever heard.
We pick up our packs from where the bus guy had thrown them onto the ground, and after a short conversation as to what to do, start walking down the highway towards Zadar. Mike sticks his thumb out, but nobody seems willing to pick up a couple of backpackers. The kitten follows us and I stop about three times to pick it up and run back to place it in the tall grass from which it came. It actually broke my heart to leave the poor thing. After a while it wasn't behind us anymore, though.
So we continued walking, praying that we would find somewhere with an ATM. We walked and walked, sun beating down, along a highway with the crazy Croatian drivers. I tried to keep thinking about solutions. "So, okay, one of us takes the bus to Zadar, rents a car and comes back to get the other one."
Mike replies with a question, "Do you have an international driver's license."
I answer, "No, do you?"
"No."
"Shit."
I was beginning to think that we were going to have to walk all the way to Zadar, sleeping on the side of the road at night. After walking for a few hours, we came upon a sign pointing the way to a village. It was a toss up. The village was advertising accomodation and a market, but not a bank. There looked like there was a bus station also, so we decided to go for it.

To be continued.