How do you avoid the high fees when sending money to a family member?

I sent some money to a family member in Mexico. It charged be like $4 for a transaction that was worth hundreds of dollars. However, when they tried to send me money, I saw that PayPal took $17 out in fees, which is just insane. Is there a way to send money from Mexico to the US without paying this much? I don't know if it makes any difference, but I sent the money using Xoom, and they didn't