Arque is a rural province in Cochabamba Department in the eastern cordillera of the South American state of Bolivia.

It is located in the Bolivian Andes at an elevation between 3,000 and 4,500 metres and about 250 km west of Cochabamba, the capital of the department.

The precipitation can occur in the form of devastating hailstorms which may even destroy the planted seeds of field crops and the harvests.

Often these houses only consist of one single room where the meals are prepared on open fire so that the smoke can cause infections of the eyes.

The roofs bear a deadly danger which comes overnight: the blood-sucking winchuka[10] bugs (vinchuca), common to the zone, which can cause the Chagas disease.