A Cuban national who survived a perilous trip in a tiny crate shipped to the United States begins the next journey of her life.

BY NIKKI WALLER

Her slender arms dotted with circular bandages covering new inoculations, the Cuban woman who shipped herself to Miami in a plywood crate was released from federal custody Friday evening.

Lifting a nearly child-sized hand to obscure her face, the petite woman would only say her first name is Sandra and that she doesn't have family here.

This latest leg of Sandra's amazing journey into the United States began about 3 p.m. Friday in a crammed Calle Ocho mini-mall, where she underwent a medical exam and received immunization shots at the Miami-Dade County Health Department's Refugee Health Assessment Program.

Outside the clinic, a horde of television cameras and reporters waited for a glimpse of the new Cuban arrival.

Also in the crowd: Roberto Martinez, who lingered at the health clinic after his own immunizations.

''It's a unique case of crossing, unique in the history of immigration,'' Martinez said.

When the dark-skinned 21-year-old with frizzy black hair emerged after 4 p.m., a maelstrom of media converged upon her, the teeming cameramen and reporters dwarfing her tiny frame.

Then Sandra, wearing clean blue jeans and a light blue shirt made of puckered fabric, was escorted by an employee of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops Migration and Refugee Services into a maroon Honda minivan waiting at the curb.

She was taken to the group's intake center in Doral. Frightened by the media swarm, Sandra asked workers at the intake center to keep her appearance there a secret.

Sandra was quickly given a voucher for a hotel room and smuggled out a back door. She took with her the mystery of her crossing: How long she spent in the crate that was about the size of a small filing cabinet; how she was able to breathe in the unpressurized cabin of the plane during the Nassau-to-Miami flight; how she originally got to Nassau; how much it cost to have herself shipped via DHL.

She will live in the unidentified hotel until her intake interview, likely to be scheduled for early next week, said assistant director Raul Hernandez.

That interview will determine the next phase of her new life -- if someone comes forward claiming her as a friend or family member, she'll be permitted to stay in the area. If not, she will be sent to one of nine other refugee programs in the country.

''She has been through a lot,'' Hernandez said. "She's scared.''