Tongue-tied

I am happily sitting on the San Pau campus, eating my apple for lunch and reading my Mediterranean Politics homework (you have no idea how hard it is to actually do homework right now) and this sweet little old man with a newspaper came up to me. He asked if he could sit next to me, speaking rapidly in Spanish and complaining about how his other bench was in the sun. The only way I knew how to respond was to smile and say, "Hace calor," or, "It's hot." This prompted him to begin another rapid speech about forgetting his hat...I think.
Either way, I had no idea what to say to that so I simply smiled. Smiling seems to be one message that gets across to people, no matter what language you speak.