Carvajal traveled to the United States to compete in the Olympic marathon at the 1904 Summer Olympics in St. Louis, Missouri, but lost all of his money gambling in New Orleans, Louisiana and was forced to hitchhike and walk the rest of the way. He arrived at the race dressed in street clothes and hastily cut around the legs of his trousers to make them more like shorts. Carvajal performed well in the race despite stopping to chat with spectators and snatching some peaches from a spectator's car. Later in the race he saw an apple tree and stopped to eat some apples which turned out to be rotten. After stopping to nap and recover, Carvajal rallied to finish fourth.